Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Yes, I said happy. This new reality we’re all living in can be overwhelming, what with constant news updates and press conferences happening, so it’s important now, more than ever, to focus on the positive.
As hard as we find it to stay positive in these times, I know our kids are feeling it even more. They’re completely out of their routine, unable to hang out with their friends, and unsure of when things will return to normal.
Just a few days into our new reality, my husband and I are trying to keep things as light for our kids as we can. Thankfully I had picked up a few things before all of this chaos began, so I was able to do a little bit to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this morning, and we’ll enjoy a special dinner tonight: Irish pub food and a movie (anything but the news).
We’ve also done a few other things around the house to make our time inside more fun: we’ve converted our dining room table into a puzzle table, and we brought our air hockey and foosball tables up from the basement to create a game room in our front hallway.
I think we can all agree that a few days of tv and lounging quietly around the house can be a welcome break from our routines, but days, weeks, and even perhaps months…?? Not so much.
So here’s a list of what we’re doing in our house to occupy our time. Maybe some of the ideas here will help you in your house:
- I printed off a list of the National Food Holidays to inspire us to either cook or create in a way that honours these days. For example, March 19th is oatmeal cookie day so we’ll be baking that day.
- Going for long walks on local outdoor trails or along the waterfront on nicer days.
- Exercise classes at home. Pilates session at 3 pm!
- Training the dog and teaching her a few new tricks.
- Giving our upstairs bathroom a makeover (with supplies we bought before stores closed).
- Cleaning up the basement.
- Googling new recipes and ways to stretch our groceries.
- Reading every day (this is helping to keep the kids off of social media and away from some of the frightening new stories).
- Hitting some of those craft projects we had saved on Pinterest.
- Art class: painting, online colouring pages.
- Personal Development: assembling online portfolios and websites for school/career.
- Online classes learning new skills or doing homework.
- Family game nights (again, gives us a break from the news).
- Writing: both of our girl’s love to write, and with one of them striving to be a famous author, they are both working on their own novels.
Please share what you’re doing in your house to occupy yourself and your kids. Above all else, enjoy what you can: get outside for walks, check in with neighbours and family members through social media or the old fashioned telephone, play music and dance together, put on a movie and laugh together, cozy up under a blanket and read a book together….
Take care of yourself and each other.