Things are not great in the world right now. Things are unreal. The unknown is scary. We are taking it one day at a time.
Home Life
Our family is OK and for that I am grateful. We are together, safe and figuring out how to manage through the new normal. Economic instability, closed schools, job losses on top of the very scary public health crises are all on our mind all the time.
As a family we decided our best approach to the pandemic is to stay home. Not quite quarantine mode, but almost. We don’t leave the house other than for essential food/med needs. And when we do, we are extra cautious. This is all in an effort to do the best we can do for our family, our community and those more vulnerable during this time.
With no school or kid community activities, I’ve tried to keep a routine for my kiddos at home in order to make their homelife seem normal, fun and productive. This has been our schedule this week.
- 7-9: breakfast, playtime
- 9-12: learning time (worksheets, tracing, art projects, board games, puzzles and time outside)
- 12-4: lunch, reading practice, snack and free time
- 4-7: family time, play time/outside time, dinner, bed
Food
Making meals has been a comfort to our stressed out minds, bodies and souls lately. Home made meals have given us a little piece of joy everyday.
The below list of pantry items are things we try to always have on hand. Obviously we may not always be able to find all of these items especially during this time, but it’s a great list to work off of.
Fun Evening Ideas
I sat down with my four year old earlier this week to come up with fun nightly family activities. The goal for these is to encourage family time and make our time at home a little more exciting.
*Notice the ones my 4 year old came up with 🤣
- Craft Night
- Art Night (paint, color, dot paint)
- Basement Soccer Night (with a small soccer ball)
- Basement Volleyball Night* (with a beach ball)
- FaceTime/Skype family and friends (we plan to do this as much as we can)
- Movie Night
- Family Game Night
- My Little Pony Night*
- Lego Night
- Dance Party
- Karaoke Night
- Bacon Night*
- Night Walk through neighborhood with flashlights
- Book Night (read as many books as we can to the kids)
- Puzzle Night
- Dress Up Night
- Letter Writing to loved ones
I’m also adding an easy scavenger hunt we did today at a local nature center. Fun for the kiddos.
Staying Positive
A priority for us lately has been to reach out to others, stay connected to our community and provide support however possible. Using Skype, Facetime, Polo App, calls or messages have all been amazing ways to check in with loved ones.
Despite the severity of the situation in much of the world and the constant stream of tragic and frustrating news, I am trying to find a silver lining. In our case, that silver lining is time together.
Finding joy in being at home, feeding my family, playing with my kids and being outside in nature has been a huge relief lately. Taking breaks throughout the day from the news and to talk about something other than the Coronavirus helps me stay positive.
I am pushing myself to think about those who may need a little extra help. Checking in with friends who are elderly or have compromised immune systems, friends in healthcare or who run a small business, and of course neighbors and friends near and far.
Originally posted 2020-03-19 21:36:48.
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