I watch as families everywhere start being forced to stay home. Schools have shutdown. Parents are being told to not go to work. These are some scary times. The virus outbreak has changed each of our lives in different ways, for some, isolation or shelter in place hasn’t significantly impacted our life. There are others who have no idea what to do while being stuck at home in isolation.
If you’ve been in isolation or order to shelter in place, it’s important to use this time wisely. I wrote about personal growth over on my New England Lifestyle Blog as a means to inspire you to take this time to work on yourself. On this blog, I wanted to go a different route. I want to place a focus on how isolation can lead to more family bonding time.
Isolation Leads to More Family Bonding
Focus on The Good
Sure, school is out and kids have to be educated virtually or homeschooled right now. I get it, for parents who haven’t done this before, it is very intimidating. The key to keeping your family safe right now though is to focus on the good. Remember that you have plenty of good going right now, such as having the family together under one roof during isolation.
Relearn Each Other
After spending years upon years being super busy with your individual life, running errands getting kids to school and activities, now you have a pause. You’re home and isolated with these members of your family that you may have grown distant from. Use isolation as a chance to relearn each other. Find ways to connect with your family members right now.
Pull Out the Photo Albums
During isolation or shelter in place, many have wondered if the internet will go down. I admit this is something that would totally cause a major financial toll on my family. The idea is obviously scary but if that time comes, you can pull out the old photo albums. Have fun discussing those distant memories of family bonding moments together.
Keep it Fun
Lastly, I highly recommend you keep it fun. Here in NH, we have not been ordered to shelter in place so we’re not in isolation. While it’s less busy out there than normal, people can still get groceries and go to work in most places.
My other half did take Friday off though since his work is slowing down with machine shop work. We’re doing stuff to make each other laugh. Telling jokes, using our kitchen bulletin board to draw funny things and we’re engaging in our own sarcastic silly ways to keep things fun.
In conclusion, having to stay home and shelter in place can be stressful for many of us who have grown accustomed to getting out of the house, working, and socializing. It’s important that you remain focused on what’s great about isolation such as; you’re healthy, you’re together, and this opens the door to being more connected as a family again.
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