Day one of "captivity"...sort of.
For someone with wanderlust, who makes it her personal mission to spend as little time sitting at home as possible, COVID-19 has certainly thrown a wrench into how my family and I go about our lives. Let's be honest, it's messed things up for pretty much everyone.
It's easy to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for oneself, but what would be the point? We're all in this together. We're all missing out. For many of us, this is the first time we have even had a whiff of real "trouble" to deal with. This too shall pass, and it will pass sooner if we all do our part.
Perhaps the largest challenge for hubby and I, will be keeping our two school-age children sane. It's hard for children to understand why they can't go to school, our hang out with their group of friends. It's difficult to explain why we can no longer go to the museum, swimming class, Cubs or Sparks. They understand it's necessary to keep everyone safe, but you can sense the frustration.
Rather than give in to the frustration, I'm viewing this challenge as an opportunity - a chance to focus inwards, tighten our little family unit, and spend some "quality" time together - something we could all be better at doing and often gets pushed to the wayside due to work, errands, and the day-to-day hustle and grind. For a time, we're all having to slow it down a little, and maybe that's the one positive out of all of this.
So how are we going to bust the doldrums? It's a simple concept really. Today we sat down for a rare "family meeting" and came up with a plan - the "boredom busters bucket". As a family, we came up with 30 days worth of activities, big and small, of fun things we can do either in the house, our yard, driveway our neighbourhood. We wrote each activity on a piece of paper and threw it in the bucket - whatever we pick, is what we will do the following day. Even on the days, where we are feeling lazy, this will force us to change things up.
I should also mention, that these activities have to fit within me and hubby's work schedules, as we will be teleworking for the duration of office closures. One day, he may grab an hour, to do an activity with the kids, and the next day I'll grab an hour. It's a good chance for us to check in with the kids, make sure they are doing well not just physically but mentally, and ensure we are taking the time to care for ourselves too.
And so, to kick things off, I chipped about half a foot of ice off our back deck like a woman possessed. we bought a fire table, reconnected all of our Christmas lights in the yard, and had ourselves a good old fashioned family campfire. Sometimes, you need to shine a little light in the darkness.
For someone with wanderlust, who makes it her personal mission to spend as little time sitting at home as possible, COVID-19 has certainly thrown a wrench into how my family and I go about our lives. Let's be honest, it's messed things up for pretty much everyone.
It's easy to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for oneself, but what would be the point? We're all in this together. We're all missing out. For many of us, this is the first time we have even had a whiff of real "trouble" to deal with. This too shall pass, and it will pass sooner if we all do our part.
Perhaps the largest challenge for hubby and I, will be keeping our two school-age children sane. It's hard for children to understand why they can't go to school, our hang out with their group of friends. It's difficult to explain why we can no longer go to the museum, swimming class, Cubs or Sparks. They understand it's necessary to keep everyone safe, but you can sense the frustration.
Rather than give in to the frustration, I'm viewing this challenge as an opportunity - a chance to focus inwards, tighten our little family unit, and spend some "quality" time together - something we could all be better at doing and often gets pushed to the wayside due to work, errands, and the day-to-day hustle and grind. For a time, we're all having to slow it down a little, and maybe that's the one positive out of all of this.
So how are we going to bust the doldrums? It's a simple concept really. Today we sat down for a rare "family meeting" and came up with a plan - the "boredom busters bucket". As a family, we came up with 30 days worth of activities, big and small, of fun things we can do either in the house, our yard, driveway our neighbourhood. We wrote each activity on a piece of paper and threw it in the bucket - whatever we pick, is what we will do the following day. Even on the days, where we are feeling lazy, this will force us to change things up.
I should also mention, that these activities have to fit within me and hubby's work schedules, as we will be teleworking for the duration of office closures. One day, he may grab an hour, to do an activity with the kids, and the next day I'll grab an hour. It's a good chance for us to check in with the kids, make sure they are doing well not just physically but mentally, and ensure we are taking the time to care for ourselves too.
And so, to kick things off, I chipped about half a foot of ice off our back deck like a woman possessed. we bought a fire table, reconnected all of our Christmas lights in the yard, and had ourselves a good old fashioned family campfire. Sometimes, you need to shine a little light in the darkness.
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