SELF-CARE: Have a virtual happy hour with friends after the kids go to bed. If you want to stay far away from discussing COVID, try some question cards or the 36 questions that lead to love. Or just give everyone 5 mins to talk uninterrupted about what challenges they had that day or week to lighten their emotional backpack.
PARENTING TIP: Model that mistakes are OK. In our positive discipline series, we teach Jane Nelson’s 3 Steps. 1. Acknowledge “Wow, I made a mistake!" 2. Apologize “I am sorry.” 3. Ask for help/solution “What should I do next time instead?” I used to always skip step 1 and go straight to step 2-adding in step one really makes a difference! And step 3 has led to some interesting family solutions “you should say jumping dolphins and then I’ll listen.” 75% of the time saying “Jumping Dolphins instead of yelling now works.”
INDOOR ACTIVITY: Is your child crawling, jumping, or hanging from you in sometimes annoying ways? This is probably a sign that they need more proprioceptive (muscle and joint input similar to what they would receive by climbing and hanging from trees or playground structures). Try to redirect this energy to games like animal walks jumping games, crawling through tunnels or rolling on yoga balls. If you can, you may want to order a lycra aerial yoga swing to get you through these times. It gives children amazing proproiceptive input and has serious calming effects. (You can hang from a doorway with a pull up bar or from a stud in your ceiling with an eye hook. https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Improved-Inversions-Flexibility-Strength/dp/B071R1QWXJ/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=lycra+swing+aerial+yoga&qid=1586240366&sr=8-7
OUTDOOR ACTIVITY: Do you have fun shaped ice cube molds (or even regular ones) and food coloring? Create ice for building or bathing.You can even freeze small toys inside (older children) using bread pans to make ice bricks for many moments of excavation fun!