Not financially of course. The latest survey work by Gallup and others has suggested at least 40% of us have suffered at least income loss if not job loss. Of course, there’s more to life than money and it’s times like these that can remind us that’s the case. And when it comes to what’s most important, for most of us it’s our family. It just so happens that the biggest silver lining for most people during the pandemic has been the ability to reconnect with them. A recent study by OnePoll of 2,000 parents at least four weeks into stay-at-home orders found 80% of families feel their family has become closer during the pandemic. That’s clearly encouraging for a number of reasons. And it’s not just that families have reconnected, or who knows, maybe even connected for the first time, it hasn’t all been about sitting around watching Netflix.
Fifty percent of families are playing games, especially board games, thirty percent are reading as a family and twenty-eight have taken up gardening together. What’s the likelihood this would have happened had it not been for the pandemic? If you’re looking for silver linings, this certainly fits.
There’s more to the story that speaks to character building during this time of adversity. One of our biggest issues as a society, especially in South Florida, where so many of us aren’t originally from around here, is the lack of a sense of community. To that end, 62% of parents report their children as becoming more community-minded during the pandemic. This has come with a sense of additional awareness from walks, runs, biking, helping neighbors who might be at-risk, etc. But what specifically about us? Our relationships with our spouse? There’s good news there too, sixty percent of couples say their relationship has improved during the pandemic
That says a lot that’s especially encouraging. With so many families facing a loss of income, job loss, and uncertainty, this usually strains and ends relationships. That we’re generally seeing the inverse speaks to the value of quality time together with the person we love. We can’t control the pandemic but we can control the effort we put in at home. Thankfully most of us are making the most out of this challenging situation and our families are bound to be better off for it in the long run. Now, that's making lemonade out of lemons.
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