We’ve been in lockdown for a couple of months now, and your family might have begun to run out of things to do. But just because you aren’t allowed to jump in the car doesn’t mean that there aren’t worthwhile activities worthy of your time! Let’s take a look at a few ways a family can occupy themselves while maintaining a reasonable social distance.
Exercise
There’s a good reason you’re allowed out for a half-hour period each day. A lack of exercise can lead to severe health problems. It’ll also cause children in your household to go a little bit stir-crazy. Get them out into the dazzling sunshine. Even if you live in a built-up city centre, there will be beautiful parks within walking distance. You can catch a train from Enfield chase to Finsbury Park – but walking is always preferable.
Meditation
Meditation is a pastime that brings innumerable benefits. It’ll bust stress, improve concentration, and grant you a deeper perspective on the experience we call life. But it is also a bit of a hard sell, especially among children who might not yet appreciate the value of these things. If you’re looking to get into meditation, then there’s no shortage of guided courses and apps to help you get the ball rolling.
Gardening
If you’re fortunate enough to have a garden, then here’s where you’ll get quite a bit of mileage from it. Set up a long-term schedule for planting, weeding, and general maintenance, and make it a project for everyone to pitch in with.
Creativity
A more immediately appealing form of meditation is the sort that comes from getting into ‘the zone’ with a creative practice. You might know the feeling, even if you don’t quite know how to replicate it: it’s when you’re so absorbed in a particular pastime that time seems to fly by, and you’re oblivious to the world around you. Find an activity you and your children enjoy, and make a point of doing it at least once a day.
Cooking
While there are certainly drawbacks to being confined to the same building for months on end, there are definitely opportunities, too. It’s a chance to acquire new skills, and set yourself and your children up with habits for life. Perhaps the most obvious of these is good cooking skills. Find a few recipes that are unfamiliar but not too challenging and make a point of creating one of them each week.
