Keeping Sane During Social Distancing

I’ve had some time to process the information about the coronavirus social distancing and we are in the thick of it now. I’m sharing five ways to stay organized with kids during coronavirus social distancing.

Whether we are staying home with our kids or we are still working outside the home, we all need to stay organized to keep our sanity, right?

At first I can honestly say I was a little annoyed by our schedules and flexibility of daily life being paused. I know, call me selfish but it’s true. Once I sat down and started watching more of the news and reading articles I began to realize this is just what we have to do for now.

As individuals, as families, as a country. We have to follow the rules for coronavirus social distancing and below I share some ways to make it all work.

Together, we need to take the same approach. To social distance ourselves. To take this time to slow down. Eat more veggies. Take care of ourselves and our loved ones by doing what is asked of us. Ya’ll it’s hard but doable.

I’m looking at this as a little god wink for me to stop doing and start being. Be more present in my life and my kids life. To get off my iphone and hear the birds in the morning. To be still and know that God is in control. To realize how good we have it as a country and be thankful for the little things.

Yes I’m being positive patty but what else are you gonna do? Yes, it’s hard some days doing house work, keeping up with my online business, doing school work, feeding the kids (and myself), making sure we all get outside play time, etc but I won’t ever get this time back so I’m enjoying it for now.

Five Ways To Stay Organized With Kids During Coronavirus Social Distancing

But this is all manageable with a few key ideas to keep your organized. I have done all of these myself and I think this is why I’m feeling a little more like supermom (until about 4:00 comes). 🙂

1. Meal Plan: Sit down for 15 minutes and plan your meals for the week. Give yourself a few extra days to plan for in case you are not going to do take out. Then go to the store and get what you need plus a few extra days. No hoarding people. You may want to get an extra supply of those staples. For us, it’s almond milk, peanut butter, and oats. I pretty much use those items everyday so I bought extra. I also write out our meal plan so the kids can see what’s on the menu for the day. It’s also a great way to help your picky eater know what’s to eat for the day. Don’t hesitate to get your kids opinion. You will be eating at home more than ever so give the kids a choice too.
2. Meal Prep: Go ahead and prep some snack bags for the kids so in the middle of the day you can just steer them to the fridge or pantry for a snack rather than having to stop and make it right then. For pantry items, buy individual bags of skinny pop popcorn or made good granola bars. I have a big bowl in the pantry and place granola bars and popcorn in the bowl so they can just grab and go. For items in the fridge, cut up fruit or veggies and place in little snack bags. Then when they want one they can just grab them. For apple sauce or yogurt place on the lower shelves so they can help themselves. If you have any lunch box containers/tupperware you can even place some yummy items in those for lunch. For lunch ideas check out my mega list HERE.
3. Visual Schedule: This is so the pediatric speech-language pathologist in me but man does it work! I wrote out a list and numbered the tasks of the day. Then I taped it to our pantry door. This way the kids know exactly what our day looks like. It helps them stay on tasks and not fight me when it’s time to do school work because they know that play time is coming right after. If your kids are bugging you about when they can have screen time or play outside then just refer them to the visual schedule. It makes the day predictable but they also know there is an end to an activity and creates a smoother transition from one activity to another. If your child cannot read then write out simple words and draw a picture next to it. Younger ones love to draw a line (with your help) through the item they have completed. Make copies and just replace each day if you are going to do this.
4. Get outside: Make sure you and your kids have time outside. We naturally want to go to screens but did you know that will make them even more likely to be hyped up or even bored when not engaged? Getting outside allows our children to use their creativity, imagination, exercise, and breathe in fresh air. All is so good for our body and brains. It’s calming and allows them to be able to transition to back inside where school work is going strong. If you have a patio or screened porch you may want to have a school activity out there in the morning or afternoon just to keep it interesting. If your little one is getting tired in the afternoon allow some quiet time reading a book or laying down. Then let them go outside, it will give them some more energy.
5. Coronavirus Social distance yourself: People, this is the hardest part and as much as I want my kids to be playing with the neighbors it’s just best to follow the rules and stay within your quarters. Ya’ll know I’m a big believer in plant based eating, my plant powders, omegas, and decreasing the use of chemically loaded products. But to be honest the one thing that will flatten the curve is going to be to keep our distance. Yes, continue to eat whole foods and drink plenty of water but please keep your family safe at this time. It’s just best to follow precautions so hopefully we can move past this sooner than later. HERE is a great article a friend posted about why it’s so important to keep your distance.

Tell me what has helped you keep yourself organized and sane during this trialing time! Leave me a comment so we can all learn from each other.