7 Tips to Survive Winter During a Pandemic With Small Children
(While also remote schooling!)
Let me just start by saying, I don't know. But here are some things I've done that have helped me and maybe they'll help you too:
1) Get them outside as much as you can. Even if it's snowing and it takes half an hour to bundle them up and everyone is crying and you only stay out for 15 minutes. Just being out of the house helps and makes a difference, even if it's only for a little bit. I’m in Buffalo, NY and it’s snowy and cold for most of the winter, but we still get outside as much as we can.
2) Kinetic Sand. This stuff keeps my kids entertained for approximately 20-30 minutes and it can get everywhere and it's relatively easy to clean up. It's also fun to play with alongside them. Target has it. Amazon probably does too. It's fun.
3) Painting. We've done this quite a bit over here and it's a little messy, but it's one of my favorite things to do with my kids. They paint and I paint or color with them. They get so excited about it and love showing me all the colors they use. Bonus is hanging the creations on the fridge when they're dry - they love displaying them and I love all the color.
4) Use Instacart for grocery pickup or delivery. If you have access to Instacart and are able to, use it. Grocery shopping with kids was hard before the pandemic. Avoid at all costs. I don't know how anyone survived before GPS, Amazon, and Instacart. Hats off to the moms/dads that did.
5) Learn how to make new drinks and drink them. I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but pre-pandemic, the extent of my mixed drink skills was rum and diet coke. I now know how to make margaritas, lemon drop martinis, old-fashioneds, and something called The Golden Snitch Cocktail, which I found on Half-Baked Harvest's Instagram page. My husband and I have had a lot of fun with this and I feel slightly more cool.
6) If you don't mind getting a little messy, we've had some fun doing a few easy science experiments. We found a little volcano at Marshall's for $10 and baking soda/vinegar made it "erupt." You can do it without the volcano too, just put baking soda in any container and slowly add vinegar- my boys LOVED this.
7) Just go with it. Seriously, whatever you need to do to get through the day, just do that. I feel bad sometimes when things don't go as planned or we don't get outside or we spend too much time on screens. But I try to remember these aren't normal times and everyone is just doing their best. Whatever we gotta do, it's ok.
I hope these help someone else, if even only a little bit. It can get hard and overwhelming at times. I think as long as our kids are loved, it's all good. It's crazy to me to think that we've been at this for almost an entire year and I hope we return to more "normal times" soon enough. I'd love to hear suggestions of things that you've done to make it easier in the comments!
