Many local parents are finding themselves extra busy during the coronavirus outbreak as they have to balance working from home with supervising their children, write Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna, and Melanie Burney for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

However Christina Riehman-Murphy, a librarian at Penn State Abington who lives in Glenside, quickly discovered that the task might be even harder than she expected.

In one instance a research class she was teaching via videoconference was interrupted by screams from one of her five children who was having an apple-sauce crisis.

Fortunately, her students were very understanding.

“There is a sense of solidarity in this,” said Riehman-Murphy, “we’re all in the same boat.”

She is not the only one who is finding this time especially stressful and that is perfectly okay, said Michelle Richardson, a therapist and founder of Mindful Soul Center for Wellbeing in Audubon.

“I’ve been encouraging my clients and my staff to give themselves a little permission to not be perfect right now, to catch their breath,” said Richardson.

She added that with things being as scary as they are right now, “the pressures that we normally face feel tenfold.”

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