Social Distancing Activity Options:

Time Outside to Avoid Time Outs Inside

When the Covid-19 situation began affecting our daily lives, I found out from my place of business that I was "non-essential". That is a rather sobering reality, knowing that I’m not vital to the functioning of society during a pandemic. My wife, however, is a nurse working 12-hour shifts overnight. She is important to not only our family, and also to the world, but especially during these confusing and scary times. The various business shutdowns included my beloved professional sports, as well as schools. We have a five-year-old son that, until recently, attended preschool. Now, the onus is largely on me to entertain/educate/redirect him during his awake hours. I’ve seen social media posts about people binge-watching shows, and one friend apparently "finished Netflix". I hope he was joking. But those of us home with our kids during this season of life, we aren’t at work, and still don’t have time to do leisurely activities like zoning out on the couch in front of the TV. We are BUSY! For that demographic, I’d like to share some fun activity ideas that I feel have been successful with my child, and something similar could also work for yours. 

My son was in a baseball league, with practices scheduled and the season already underway. With that coming to a screeching halt, I realized that my son needed activities to get his wiggles out, without driving me crazy in the house. So, we ordered a "multi-sport backstop netting", aka "sport netting barrier" (use the preferred search engine here). When it arrived, we hung it from a beam that goes across the middle of our carport roof, and voilà, we had a makeshift batting cage. In case there is any confusion, move the cars OUT of the carport before you make use of it. Then, we borrowed our neighbor’s heavy-duty rubber baseball tee, and suddenly we got an opportunity for him to work on his baseball swing. We’ve also used the netting as a soccer goal, just to mix it up a bit more.

Another idea came to me recently. When years ago, my nephews discovered the joys of geocaching. If you don’t know what that is, you’re not alone. Geocaching is similar to a scavenger hunt, where the goal is to find the "treasure" that’s been hidden by other people. There are several apps that provide geocache locations, and it’s a wonderful way to get outside and go on a mini-adventure. We have thus far found 4/5 of the geocaches we were trying to find, but the anticipation that builds prior to finding the secret container felt very real. Over the past two weeks, my son has been asking me regularly about our next geocaching outing. 

Birdhouses! After picking up an unfinished birdhouse at our local hardware store, my son got to choose which colors would go where on the wooden surfaces. We paint with one color every few days, and we are so very close to displaying it on our porch. This activity can be done in one afternoon or spread out for the long haul.  

Past sporting events have been successful for my son because he doesn’t know the end result of these games, and as long as I am enthusiastic and cheer along, he gets into it. It also provides an opportunity for me to explain the sport and the athletes to him, opening up communication about other things as well (like I said, he’s 5, so there’s no telling where the conversation may go). There are many sports available online, and it helps fill the void left by vacated seasons if that piques your interest.

Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned over this time is this: You’re doing a good job! Are they alive and healthy? Are you feeding them? Do they have a place to sleep? If so, this is successful. Just because we can’t have our "normal" lives doesn’t mean that we can’t be creative and make the most of our situations. Remember that. Not only is there not a universal handbook for parenting, what we’re all going through now is unprecedented, so we’re doing our best. One of my favorite song lyrics is "sometimes; survival’s the milestone". This feels so appropriate now because stress of sheltering-in-place is tangible, and we miss our friends and loved ones. We can get through this, especially if someone feeling so unequipped and insecure in these times as I am, can believe it. Press on, and if you can, get a good night’s sleep. And maybe a nap…or two. Good luck, my friends.