Stay at Home 2020 Tip #4: Remember to Have Fun With Your Family

It may be hard to not feel stressed or anxious right now, with the current crisis of COVID-19.  However, the connections you have with your family are what everything else is built upon, so don't neglect them.  Invest time and energy into just having fun with your kids and getting to know them.  School is important, but don't let it surpass your connections with your children or your spouse.  It can be easy to feel like you have to let academics take the priority because the education of your children is such an important responsibility, and now with this crisis we all fer that our children will "fall behind", but don't forget to enjoy each other, too!

Families are having to get creative at finding new ways to have fun when all of our activities have been cancelled.  Recently, our go-to family fun activities are walking our dogs in the neighborhood, taking hikes, watching movies or TV, and our kids enjoys video games with friends, social media, and Face Time with friends.  We also enjoy lots of different kinds of music.  I've seen families in the neighborhood walking, riding bikes, working in their yards, and one fun family brought out their professional DJ equipment and shared fun dance music that rang through the neighborhood all afternoon to bring a little joy to our area!

My kids are now 17 and 19 years old and as their interests and hobbies have changed many times through the years, our family time has also changed, but it's been a wonderful journey.  What are your families doing right now to have fun?  I remember long winter days indoors when the kids were small and they would find fun ways to play inside.  One thing they liked to do was to get out our single person sized, thin, inflatable camping mattresses and "sled" down our long flight of stairs.  They would also set up their play tents over an air conditioner vent and have the dogs hang out inside the tent with them.

We all learned how to ski in the winter when the kids were young and enjoyed being outside, even in the winter.  Family games on the Wii, Apples to Apples, or different versions of Monopoly and Uno have also been fun ways to spend time together.  We like to sit outside around a small fire when the weather is nice outside.  We also enjoy kayaking, fishing, boating, paddle boarding, and swimming in the summer.  Through the years, our fun activities have changed, but we have found that when we have more time, we tend to become more creative.  It has been fun to see photos or videos of ways that other families are entertaining themselves during our stay-at-home orders.  What kinds of fun are you having right now?  Let's share simple ways to have fun, even in the middle of a crisis.

Family Fun Ideas

• Read together
• Listen to or play music together
• Board games, card games, outdoor games
• Physical activities: walking, running, gardening, yard work, hiking, swimming, biking
• Cooking and baking new recipes
• Chalk drawing outside on the driveway or sidewalk
• Planting flowers, vegetables, or herbs
• Creating your own Tik Tok videos
• Face Time extended family and friends
• Play with your pets 
• Watch TV and movies together
• Play family video games like wii bowling, Mario Kart, or Just Dance