How are you keeping your kids happy in this pandemic?

[mommyoffive]

How are you keeping your kids happy right now?    How are they spending their days?  Do you have special routines?  

How are you making special times feel special?  We have already had one birthday during this and we have  3 more soon. 

I would love to hear from parents of older kids and teens too.   

[JustEm]

We are still doing school every day but other than math and reading nothing else is structured. We just do what we want. So, lots of baking, science experiments, free writing time, audiobooks, gardening, etc. Not too different than our normal schooling days but dh and I have been much more hands on with their unstructured learning. Instead of just allowing them do what they are interested in we've been actively participating in it more often. 

They are also occupied by making videos with my mom's phone. They've been reading stories, acting them out, and posting them on YouTube. It is some of the best collaborating they've done in a long time. 

We also go on lots of walks and spend a lot of time outside

[Pintosrock]

Still in the homeschooling routine, but we've added some fun stuff (Home Safaris with the Cincinnati Zoo and Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems) and my local group of moms have started reading a picture book everyday livestreaming it on Facebook. With those additions, we've dropped our usual science and history, keeping just the main reading, writing, and math.

Dd's birthday is coming up. She knows that Amazon delivery is completely out of whack, so she isn't getting the things she asked for (Lumphy from Toys Go Out and Woody from Toy Story) We had already discussed not doing a party this year and instead taking her to the American Girl store in Chicago when we go in July. If we go... So, no party. But we're saving flour, so there will definitely be a cake! Easter egg hunts will also likely be cancelled.

For adding fun, we've started a daily Invitation to Play. It actually began when Papa was reflooring the playroom, which meant all the unseen toys from the closer came out so he could do the floor in there. And she wanted to play with EVERYTHING. To prevent craziness, we decided that I would bring out one toy from the closet and leave it on the table. She was INVITED to play with that, but NOT invited to play with the entire contents of the closet. So, there is excitement there - What "new" toy will I have to play with today?

 

[alisoncooks]

8 minutes ago, WendyAndMilo said:

We are sharing memes. Lots of memes.  That is pretty much all that is different from our usual routines.

 

 

8 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

We are still doing school every day but other than math and reading nothing else is structured.  

The above combined describe our day. Math and reading followed by lots and lots of memes.  We're also binge watching movies.  

Luckily my kids are old enough that I'm not too worried about keeping them happy, lol. We're all just going along with whatever the day brings. Trying to get outside (at least) every other day, zoom meetings for youth groups, discord chats for friends. Youngest has been wanting to play board games and cards, so I'm trying to make that happen. 

[Janeway]

I am working on keeping them miserable... vwa ha ha ha ha.

[KungFuPanda]

Isn't enough that I'm keeping them alive ?!?!

[ScoutTN]

I am not. They are not happy. 

My Ds is off the scale extroverted and high energy. He is missing his friends and activity. He *sees* his school friends in Zoom, but it's not the same as irl. School takes about 4-5 hrs/day. No church, no scouts. Unhappy boy. 

My dd is better bc her friends keep in touch on Google hangouts and she is more introverted. But this crisis has taken a piano competition, a dance recital and most likely a musical from her and she is very sad. She is homeschooled and has plenty of work to do. 

They are sleeping lots and watching more movies than usual.  

Edited March 24, 2020 by ScoutTN

[wathe]

Cooking lessons.  We're usually really busy with outside the house stuff in the evenings.  Now we have time to teach the kids to cook.

Board games, board games and more board games.  They love it.

[cjzimmer1]

I let the kids sleep in.  We do some school each day but don't worry that we aren't getting it all done (normal we finish by the end of April but i expect that we'll have lots of time in May yet to finish up this year).  I'm sending the youngers outside more than ever even though it means a lot more mud/dirt in the house and more showers.  I also see several of my flowers pots have taken a beating because they are still frozen and pretty brittle and DS has been chopping up ice (and consequently the pots are shattering) but it's a small price to pay for the peace and quiet of not having in the house.  We are watching an episode of chopped every evening (normally we don't have any tv, movies, streaming, videos etc of any kind so this is a huge treat for them), and I make a special treat each night (sometimes sweets, sometimes savory).

[Meriwether]

I shared in another thread that we set up a new sparring area for the kids and Dh. It has been good for them.

We have been playing more board games and doing more reading. In a couple days we will be spending a lot more time outside.

[rebcoola]

Honestly a new dog and too much Roblox. 

 We are doing our regular school.  Extra outschool classes.  Board games and Legos etc.  Require outside time and exercise.  There is just so much time to fill.

[Arcadia]

My teens still have their outsourced classes so they don’t get to relax. DS15 have dual enrollment community college exams this week online. 
My teens are getting cabin fever even though they lean introvert. They still like to go out and about. “Junk” food and experimenting with new dishes help. Usually I would let them have junk food once a week anyway while we are out for tennis lessons. So it’s more of allowing junk food on weekdays when the weather is bad. 

[theelfqueen]

I'm feeding them. They're in charge of happy. (We are playing board games and video games and sleeping in and stuff... ) 

[Katy]

The introverts are happy.  The extroverts are not.  It's not helping that the weather hasn't really cooperated with the idea of spring.

[alisoncooks]

We're sleeping in later here, as well. It does seem to help the day pass a little faster....but it's going to be hard to break when things are back to normal. 

[cjzimmer1]

12 minutes ago, Katy said:

The introverts are happy.  The extroverts are not.  It's not helping that the weather hasn't really cooperated with the idea of spring.

Here the introverts are struggling too but only because the extroverts are pressuring them to interact more.  There's no happy medium here.

[Guest]

I’m not. My 15yo is surly all day. The worst thing in the world, from his perspective, is being essentially returned to homeschooling and devoid of opportunities to socialize away from the house. 

[Sneezyone]

I have big kids and I want them outside. We put up a badminton court in our backyard and bought a few racquets, birdies and a volleyball. It's great! My extrovert is building and developing a "school" on Roblox that is apparently very popular. Last I heard, she was hiring "teachers" and there were nearly 1,000 followers waiting for it to open? She's been working on this for 3 months. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Sneezyone

[happypamama]

My husband is now working from home, so that in itself is special, although we also took off a couple of days from bookwork to get things set up for him.  We are mostly business as usual, so our usual school work takes up the days.  I've been trying to take advantage of some of the fun free stuff that's been put out, like Mo Willems's lunchtime doodles.  Last week we binge watched all of the current LegoMasters show.  The kids miss karate (although their instructor is making videos for home practice), and my one little guy misses his art class, but they have each other, a yard, electronics, schoolwork, art supplies, and a ton of board games, so we are definitely not hurting for things to do.  The hardest is that my middle guy misses his BFF, whom he usually plays with every week or so for several hours, so I've been more lenient about online minecraft.  But in general, things haven't changed too much for us.

 

 

[fairfarmhand]

11 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

I am not. They are not happy. 

My Ds is off the scale extroverted and high energy. He is missing his friends and activity. He *sees* his school friends in Zoom, but it's not the same as irl. School takes about 4-5 hrs/day. No church, no scouts. Unhappy boy. 

My dd is better bc her friends keep in touch on Google hangouts and she is more introverted. But this crisis has taken a piano competition, a dance recital and most likely a musical from her and she is very sad. She is homeschooled and has plenty of work to do. 

They are sleeping lots and watching more movies than usual.  

This.

46 minutes ago, Katy said:

The introverts are happy.  The extroverts are not.  It's not helping that the weather hasn't really cooperated with the idea of spring.

Both sets are annoyed with each other because the extroverts won’t leave the introverts alone. 
 

I did allow my girls to go to the church and pack food boxes for our charitable distribution project. It was just both girls in a large room sorting food items into bags and boxes. One lady popped in from time to time to give direction. Girls were glad to get out. Son went outside with dad and I had 2 blissful alone hours in the house.

But happy? Not really. We’re settling for content and healthy. 

[East Coast Sue]

Here are some of the things I've done so far....

Let them sleep in

Play CNN10 to start the day

Offer things like Lots of Brain Pop, Duolingo, Crafts, Painting, Composing music on NoteFlight, Access to Magazines through our library, Watching Animal Cameras from Nature Preserves around the world, Kahoots, GoNoodles, Apples to Apples, Codenames, Shrinky Dinks, Legos, Puzzles (lots of 1,000 piece puzzles), hiking, painting the driveway (cornstarch & food coloring), scavenger hunts (inside and outside)

Lots of new recipes and favorite foods throughout the week

[Wheres Toto]

They get to sleep in later and they don't have to come to the science center twice a week.  That's basically the only thing that has changed for them.   They don't get to go to the gym or TKD anymore but neither of them are complaining about that.

We're all introverts here so staying at home isn't too rough.   Having dh home and not having a schedule is hard on me, but the kids spend most of their time in their rooms anyway.

I may start adding some more school stuff, like Rosetta Stone, so they won't be too happy about that.

[Katy]

Re young adults being unsettled & unhappy...  A friend of mine just posted she was complaining to her dad that this was ruining her high school senior's trip/year.  He said when he was a senior his trip was to Vietnam, and DS should be happy to be safe at home.  My dad died long ago, but I can imagine him saying something very similar.

A friend's kid is in a nursing program at one of those career colleges.  They just got their clinical hours moved online. I have no idea how that's working but everyone is thrilled she will finish her RN in a few months vs whenever the pandemic is over.

[MEmama]

DS has lots of schoolwork, so that’s keeping him busy most of the day. 

Of course, he gets to sleep in (I still wake him up at 7:30 though), and has lots more downtime than usual. We are being way lenient on how much video game time he has, since he’s been playing with friends and it’s kind of social.
 

He misses his friends, his teachers and his team though. It’s tough. We are all introverts and love hanging out together, but yeah. It’s going to get long. 

[athena1277]

We are doing regular schoolwork, but I’ve tried to work things out so they get at least an afternoon off a week.  My 17yo’s closest friends live in other states, so I’ve allowed some extra chat time with them.  12yo ds has been playing extra Minecraft.  We don’t normally allow play on servers, but some people we know set one up for kids during this extra at home time, so we are letting him play there.  Not much has changed for my 3yo except that she’s not being dragged to all of her siblings’ activities.

[fairfarmhand]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

Re young adults being unsettled & unhappy...  A friend of mine just posted she was complaining to her dad that this was ruining her high school senior's trip/year.  He said when he was a senior his trip was to Vietnam, and DS should be happy to be safe at home.  My dad died long ago, but I can imagine him saying something very similar.

A friend's kid is in a nursing program at one of those career colleges.  They just got their clinical hours moved online. I have no idea how that's working but everyone is thrilled she will finish her RN in a few months vs whenever the pandemic is over.

Mine aren’t complaining. They realize that in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal. And yet, there is some sadness, particularly for my 18 yo senior who’s looked forward to some things that may not happen. I do believe that it’s acceptable to be sad for a loss and yet thankful for the positives. 

helping kids strike that balance can be hard. At our house we can go “let’s just be sad about this for an hour or two, and then we’ll move on.”

[vonbon]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

Re young adults being unsettled & unhappy...  A friend of mine just posted she was complaining to her dad that this was ruining her high school senior's trip/year.  He said when he was a senior his trip was to Vietnam, and DS should be happy to be safe at home. 

Wow - that's some perspective / reality check right there.  Nothing to complain about!

[JustEm]

My kids got to see some of their friends through a car window when my friend picked up eggs from us because they haven't been able to find them in stores. We just happen to have 21 dozen( don't judge I picked up some the same day my dad got 15 dz from the restaurant Depot, which they only sell in 15 or 30 dz increments) so I offered them 6 dz. Anyway, you would think it was Christmas morning seeing how excited each set of kids was to just see their friends faces and talk a bit between a window. 

[sweet2ndchance]

I've never made it my job to keep my kids happy. My job is to keep them safe, fed, hydrated and ensure they get an education. They are in control of their own happiness just as everyone else is. They can make the best of things and try to keep themselves entertained as best they can like the rest of us (which I think they do a very good job of doing all things considered) or they can be negative and miserable in their room because no one else wants their negativity. If they want suggestions of things to do, I always have baseboards that need dusting, rooms that need deep cleaning, yard work that needs done.... I've always been this way. This isn't a virus thing. 

We've always given the kids the choice of either their favorite homemade meal or a fancy dinner out (we don't eat out much so even something as casual as McD's for everyone is a treat). So if I had any having birthdays (so far none, my birthday is next week but none of the kids' birthdays have come up so far) the fancy dinner out would be off the table this year and I would be asking them what homemade meal they wanted for their birthday and do my best to make it happen. If they had really been looking forward to a certain restaurant on their birthday, I might give them both the homemade meal on their birthday and a rain check for the restaurant after everything returns to normal.

[gstharr]

22 hours ago, Janeway said:

I am working on keeping them miserable... vwa ha ha ha ha.

You blew the punch line: "wu ha ha ha ha."

[In the Bight]

With five kids at home now instead of one, I'm very much enjoying not having to provide the entertainment!

I did cave and allow my 11 & 12-year-olds to make a joint Tiktok account on my phone, mostly to get them to stop graphing coronavirus curves. 🙄

My oldest son's 13th birthday is coming up next week and his best friend (and her mom) are setting up a surprise birthday party for him on Zoom! It will also be the first day his aunt and uncle can join us from their self-isolation in our basement, so it should be a decent birthday overall. 

[Forget-Me-Not]

We forked out the money to download the new Animal Crossing for the switch. Worth every penny. 

Besides that, taking walks as the weather allows, baking/cooking, board games, puzzles, audiobooks, sidewalk chalk. 
 

My dad texted last night that he’s sending some “boredom prevention kits” for the grandkids. They’ll be thrilled to get packages in a few days. 

[Carrie12345]

We haven’t been doing a whole lot, and the kids are pretty much fine.

In addition to virus stuff, we’ve spent the past month rearranging our home, stressing, preparing for, and fighting for getting my niece and nephew here, so formal schooling has mostly gone out the window.  One dd has 2 college classes that just went online this week, so she has a tiny bit of structure. Other dd is frustrated that her EMT class has yet to be fully canceled nor rescheduled.

This was supposed to be our week to get back on track after another custody delay, but it’s now dh’s first week of having to work from home, so we’re all readjusting again. It’ll happen soon, I’m sure.

We’ve been playing more games and watching more movies. Kids have been baking/cooking more. Most days, there have been walks/bike rides. Everyone’s been less short tempered than usual (emphasis on less. There’s still bickering.)

I think the dog is loving this. He tends to be a real moody jerk now and then, but he’s almost 100% cuddly mush lately.

[sweet2ndchance]

10 hours ago, gstharr said:

You blew the punch line: "wu ha ha ha ha."

I imagined her laugh as is with a Transylvanian accent like a vampire or something lol

[BlsdMama]

Three girls lost their annual play. The oldest lost the state Mock Trial competition. ( This is a team that advanced to Nationals last year and Nats is cancelled too.)

Honestly? I’m letting the mourn it. It’s her senior year, she found the perfect dress and date -she’s sad. 

That said? We’re getting up in the AM and starting our day.  We’re eating healthy. We live on an acreage, so we get outside. We planted ten Aronia bushes yesterday! We ordered chicks and picked the surprise box! 😂 

[Ausmumof3]

We aren’t too locked down yet but prepped for it.  Tennis final was canned and the boys had a good chance of a premiership and they are disappointed about football.  I’m planning to do at home footy at the usual footy training time though we missed it this week.  The younger two are doing well.  Dd is disappointed because her birthday is most likely going to be very simple and something seems to mess her birthday every year.  But she’s been busy with pets and animals as usual.  Youngest wants to buy lego and I’m making him do it online.  I’m probably most worried about teen mostly because he’s not complaining he’s literally taking everything too well.  He accidentally damaged something tonight and dh wants him to pay for it which is fair enough except I feel like he’s been so good about everything I feel kind of bad.  He is also slightly anxious in general and I feel like he’s a bit too willing to just stay home.  However it’s early days so we will see.

we did do a big op shop not long ago so have some games books and puzzles and are enjoying the free readings, live streams etc online.  I’m going to try to do a movie night as a fam Friday with popcorn and stuff.  

[sweet2ndchance]

19 minutes ago, BlsdMama said:

We ordered chicks and picked the surprise box! 😂 

We just got chicks this week too! We've been planning it for years and I told dh at the beginning of this year that I wanted to make chickens happen this year. We got 2 light brahmas and 2 Easter Eggers and 4 surprise chicks. One of the surprise chicks died the first night but the remaining 3 we think are white leghorns (one of which I'm pretty sure is a rooster) and one Rhode Island Red. It was just what the feed store had they day I went. I want to get some barred rock, Australorp and maybe some more colored egg layers too, hopefully soon so they can all be raised together.

[BlsdMama]

15 hours ago, vonbon said:

Wow - that's some perspective / reality check right there.  Nothing to complain about!

I think, while meant well, that’s not true and it minimizes what they’re feeling. 
 

I know here, my daughter worked her tail off for four years to make this team. They practice for hours upon hours and are one another’s best friends. This HURT.

I have ALS.  You come up and tell me to suck it up, at least it isn’t X? You and I aren’t friends. 
Empathy has place in parenting.

[SKL]

So far, they have had a lot of freedom and time hanging out in their own rooms / away from the adults.

I've tentatively decided to let them figure out school mostly on their own (they are b&m students doing "school at home" mostly electronically).

They are spending a ton of time on their phones texting and facetiming with friends and watching K-dramas.

I have lots of "good mom" ideas for things to do together if I ever get caught up on my work.  But at the rate I'm going, that may not happen!