With the news that schools in the UK are to be closed for the foreseeable future from Friday, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have offered up their own tips for home-schooling your children. During a segment on This Morning on Thursday about how to cope with kids being kept home from school, the co-stars revealed what they think are the most important actions to take. Speaking to Vanessa Feltz and psychologist Emma Kenny, Holly said: "I think the biggest gift you can give your children right now at this moment in time is not necessarily to give them a big timetable of things to do. It's just to make them feel as calm and as loved and as safe as possible."
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Phillip also advised that parents take the opportunity to rediscover the joys of reading with your children. He added: "We've just had World Book Day. What was the one thing that so many kids have lost touch with? Reading. So if you can reconnect people with reading, then just sit and have a couple of hours a day where you say, 'Right, let's get a couple of books and let's do something we wouldn't normally do.'"
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Holly shares three children with husband Dan Baldwin
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But it's not just children who have to cope with studying at home, some parents will now have to juggle working from home while making sure their kids are keeping on track of their school work. So psychologist Emma shared her own tips for productive and happy home working. She said: "Make sure you have a workspace that your children understand. Get creative. Children love being imaginative and being given activities. It's really important to use positive reinforcement - you want to build in a behaviour system where your children get noticed only for the good things."
She added: "Pay your kids attention, spend at least ten minutes with them every single hour. Set some goals, even for little children. Work smarter. If your children get up early, try to work later, and vice versa. Make sure you do something fun at the end of every single day."
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