How I am REALISTICALLY social distancing with young kids.

I keep finding myself saying (or typing) “weird times”. I can’t seem to come up with a better way to describe what is happening in our town, state, country, world, right now. It just feels weird.

My employer was ahead of the curve and had us working remotely a week before most other companies started to. My kids have been off school since the end of last week. So I have been at home for a few weeks now trying to work full time and now trying to juggle 3 small children.

I keep hearing people say stuff “just take this time to finish stuff around the house” or “read more”. I don’t know if it’s just me, but with working from home and having the kids here, there is no extra time. I am constantly doing something.

I also keep seeing social media and blog posts with tips from homeschoolers and stay at home parents and everyone else willing to offer advice on how to school from home and/or keep kids busy. That’s all well and good, and I hope that information helps someone. But we have fallen into a loose routine quickly, that doesn’t include anything I’ve seen offered.

Here is how I have been realistically practicing social distancing with young kids while working from home. We do something in each of these categories a day. That’s it. If we do more, great. If we don’t, at least we did this.

• Get them moving
• Get them creating.
• Get them reading.

Get them moving.

It has been raining here every day since the kids have been out of school. Usually, I would kick them out into the backyard. This past week, we had to get a bit more creative.

• We took walks and jogs around the block when the rain would stop long enough for us to (and when I could step away from work).
• We have done several Cosmic Kids Yoga sessions.
• We followed along with Irish step dancing tutorials on Youtube for St. Patrick’s Day.
• I’d like to find a channel or website that does online martial arts classes for kids. I haven’t found anything yet, but if you know of one, please share it with me!

 

Get Them Creating

This does not have to be a Pinterest project or a structured craft to follow along with.

• Some days I just pull down activity books and craft supplies and let them go.
• If they need a little nudge or inspiration, we turn to books.
• Dump out a pile of legos.
• Find a lesson and draw along with Art for Kids Hub.

 

Get Them Reading

We were lucky enough to nab a stack of books from the library before it closed. I do foresee the kids getting tired of these books before we can get more though.

• We are going through older books in our home library.
• We can still download books from our library.
• We’ve discovered a ton of books that they love on KindleUnlimited.
• We’ve been using the MarcoPolo app to read stories to our family members. Sometimes they’ll read one back.

 

I am going to be totally honest here, practicing this leaves a lot of extra time. We have used screens and will continue to use screens. But just like with anything else, there is good content and garbage content. I’ll try to make it more of the good stuff.