Hopefully, you've found a way to set a schedule and have your work/play spaces set up as we all hunker down. I understand the difficulties of working and parenting at home, but I'm also happy for some seriously awesome family time. My husband's favorite part of the crazy is not commuting to NYC! Our family goals (aside from remaining safe) are to embrace this time together and not just panic with the news, or escape with Netflix 100% of the time.
If you need escape time, there is no shortage of content! But if you're concerned about the shortage of connection, alone time when you're surrounded by family or things to keep everyone busy, then today's blog is for you!
Blogger,
Emily Schuman, had a wonderful post about reframing this time for her young daughter, "How lucky we'll be if, years from now, Sloan's only memories from this time include building forts, doing my makeup, rainy day hikes, writing books, watching movies, and baking. Until then, I'm soaking up this sweet time at home with my family and hope you're doing the same! 💕"
To help build positive memories during a trying time, I'm compiling a list of kid AND adult activities to help keep everyone stimulated and engaged. See below for some of my favorites and scroll to the bottom for links to the full lists.
Food Recycling
This might not be new to many of you, but it's still fun to think about how you can regrow your veggies from scraps (vs. seeds). Our family left the root of cabbage (thank you St. Patty's Day), beet roots, carrot tops and an onion root intact. We added these separately to shallow bowels with a bit of water and have been leaving them in a bright window or taking them outside. This is fun because we add water every few days OR we play in the water and practice taking things out and putting them back in.
Adult Learning
Culture
Breaking Cabin Fever
We are trying for daily outings where we can steer clear of others. Our easy go-to is watching the "diggers" at work at construction sites or taking a jog (ie: jog/walk). If you don't have a yard, find an empty place like a school parking lot where you can break out the bikes/chalk/games and play there.
Wellbeing
In our house I need to break a sweat and the hubby needs to rest his brain. So we are making sure we get at least 20 minutes of workouts and he gets at least 10 minutes of meditation with
HeadSpace.
Staying Connected
Whether it's a family workout (hello 10x Challenge) or happy hour with friends, there are a variety of ways to "see" those that you love and joke around with.
There's so much advice out there with how to fill our time that it feels akin to scrolling through Netflix to select your next binge. So here's my advice... go back to my
last blog and put together a schedule. With that, you can see (roughly) the time slots that you want to fill up, then review which options are best for you - to help keep you feeling like the Queen or King you are! We all have our own needs to satisfy to THRIVE during this time. That is my personal goal, how can our family thrive...not just survive. I'd love to hear what's working for all of you!
Ashley Byrne
PS: looking for that Netflix-like list of activities to do that I mentioned? Keep scrolling!
CRAZY Extensive Activity List
- Morning Brew put together this INSANE list that is 8 pages long
- 450 free Ivy League online classes
- Parent's Guide to Google Classrooms
- Group Gaming: Online Multiplayer Scrabble, Rummikub, Uno, Rummy, Chess, Mahjong
- The Clean Mama for inspiration on how to keep the house clean with simple daily chores, plus one focused chore. This has eliminated ALL DAY cleanings for us! Mon = Bathrooms, Tues = Dust, Wed = Vacuum, Thurs = Mop, Fri= Catch all, Sat = sheets and towels, Sun = Just the dailies
- Exercise Online with: Class Pass, Darebee Workout Database, Yoga with Adriene, POPSUGAR Fitness, Blogilates, Kayla Itsines, Ron Boss Everline, Sharnee Lee Scott
- Kid Activities:
- The Lean Green Bean suggested this and has a great list of toddler activities you can do inside, many/most with items you already have around the house. I love the options for "making it harder."
- @TheMamaNotes article on activities to try at home includes lots of creativity with color
- The Momma Society curated her list for her kids (ages 2.5 and 5+), Mandy is one of my go-to favorites ever since I took her birthing class
- The Kid's Activity Blog: educational companies offering free subscriptions
- Learn In Color
- Scholastic set up free learn from home daily courses for children Pre-K through Grades 6+
- KinderCare shared their curriculum-based activities for at home.
