Easy does it: Relaxing home rules the 'perfect tonic for kids'

Relaxing the rules at home has helped Karen Koster and her young family to get through lockdown, says Helen O'Callaghan

Presenter Karen Koster at Virgin Media Television's Spring Schedule launch in The Westin, Dublin. Pic Brian McEvoy No Repro fee for one use

AT home with three young children during lockdown, Ireland AM’s Karen Koster is having a good day here, a bad day there.

“It really is the Corona coaster. One minute I’m thinking ‘oh this is great – we have so much time for each other’. The next, the kids are throwing tantrums and I’m wondering ‘is everybody finding this?’” says Koster, who’s ambassador for this year’s Barnardos Big Toddle.

While she sometimes wonders when she and husband John will be able to get their children to the playground or round to their cousins again, Koster has found a rhythm she didn’t expect during the anxious first days of lockdown.

“I lowered my expectations and relaxed the rules around how much schoolwork we were doing and how much TV the kids were watching. There are enough triggers in the day – why make yourself extra miserable?”

Mum to Finn, five, JJ, four, and Eve who’s almost two, Koster says Finn hasn’t been asking about going back to school or football. “We’re still the sun, moon and stars for them. And they hang around each other so much – they’re currently wrestling each other on the couch!”

Invited to be the celebrity voice of Barnardos Big Toddle 2020 – due to Covid-19 it has been adapted to a digital platform – she recalled a documentary she did a few years ago, which saw her interviewing community crèche-owners.

“They explained that, in families where children are vulnerable, childcare is a godsend. Children get early intervention, routine and stability – and they thrive. I’d been feeling guilty about putting my kids in childcare – then I realised something I was feeling guilty about really benefits huge amounts of children.”

The realisation stayed with her and she didn't think twice when asked to support the Barnardos fundraiser.

“The children Barnardos works with need help now more than ever and the Big Toddle’s a fantastic way to [help]. If you’re finding it tough to keep little ones entertained during lockdown this [is] the perfect tonic. Whether it’s a run around the back garden or setting up an art space in the sitting room there’s loads to keep you occupied,” says Koster, adding that she and her kids will be “hanging up the bunting and going for a little toddle around the garden”.

Barnardos is currently working with families in communities countrywide, some of whom require critical and intensive help during Covid-19. The charity’s calling on families to ‘Toddle at Home’ for Barnardos, where parents and toddlers can participate in the comfort/safety of their own homes.