COVID-19 Series: Prevent Cabin Fever

The Fothergill family is not one I’d consider being homebodies. We thoroughly enjoy getting out and about, and when we are inside too long we go stir crazy. Believe me, I know you’ve gotten a ton of these emails, but maybe, possibly, I might offer one tidbit of an idea that might be a little different that will help you better enjoy this time stuck inside.

1. Get outside. When the weather is nice, spend it outside. Go on a walk, ride your bike, swing, run, play, throw a ball, kick a ball, just lay in the grass, rock on your front porch, plant some flowers, literally anything… just do it outside.
2. Get in the water. If you are just at your wits end and cannot be inside any longer… give the kids a bath, you take a bath, do something in the water. It’s time consuming, different, and distracting. You can get soap, add some food dye to it and let the kids use it as paint on the walls of the bathtub. You can spike their hair up with shampoo and give them a mirror. You can throw things in the bottom of the water and make them find it with their eyes closed. Let the kids get MESSY with whatever it is… mud… paint… food… then plop them in the bath to genuinely clean them.
3. Do a project. This entails a LOT of different things. To start: Puzzling. Crosswording. Re-organizing your closet, basement, pantry, etc… Rearranging your furniture or reorganizing your bookshelves. Redoing your mantel. Yard Work. File your taxes. Print your pictures. Hang your pictures. Create a meal plan. Start learning a new language. Read a book. Listen to a podcast. Watch a movie. Find some new youtube channels you like.
4. Spring Cleaning. It was the first day of spring yesterday, which means you would probably be doing this one anyway…SPRING CLEAN! This means some awesome dusting, mopping, vacuuming, window cleaning, mirror cleaning, light fixture cleaning, ceiling fan cleaning, close purging, and so much more. What a great time be doing these things you’d be doing anyway!
5. Open your windows. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy being inside so much more when my windows are open and the breeze rushing through my house is actual wind from outside. Yes, it lets in some bugs. Yes, it contradicts my HVAC unit, but it’s so worth it.
6. Sensory Activities. Okay, so this one is for your kids. There are literally hundreds of sensory activities you can do with your kids using things you already have around the house. Instead of spelling these out for you, here is a link to a website that has a ton of great ones: https://busytoddler.com/sensory-activities/
7. Work Out. A workout could look a lot of different ways. You could do a walk. Some crunches. Some pushups. Squats. A HIIT interval. Jumping jacks. Lifting your kid over your head. So many things. The best part about being stuck at home, is you can make time to do this because not you don’t have to “get ready” for work… you can instead workout during that time that you would be driving. Even 20 minutes a day is better than nothing! You can do it! My preferred form of working out is jogging, but I’m really needing to work on the strength thing so I’m trying to make myself do some bodyweight stuff after my jogs are over.
8. Games. Board games. Card Games. Charades. Duck Duck Goose. Hide & Seek. Ring around the Rosie. Simon Says. Mother May I. I Spy. Scavenger Hunt. Egg Hunt (we are close to Easter after all!). Obstacle Course. Stay off the Lava. Build a Fort. Build a Marble Course. And there are so many more. Coloring books. Fake Tattoos. Stickers.
9. Start a Garden. What better time to be stuck at home with nothing to do and really not wanting to go to the grocery store? If you aren’t a gardener, you have time to research what plants do well beside each other and in the amount of sunlight that you will be getting in your yard. Pick your favorites and go for it. What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t produce any fruit? Well, that’s not that bad. Best case, you produce a ton and get some of your own organic produce from it :-).
10. Facetime. If the social distancing thing is just too much for you and you literally cannot do it anymore… facetime your people. Instead of going to dinner, order something over UberEats (to support local restaurants) and have a meal together at your own houses via facetime.

There are literally so many more, but I feel like there is enough here to last you at LEAST a month if you needed it to :-). I hope there is something in this enormous list of things that makes your time spent at home a little more joyful and a little less cabin feverish :-).

And because scripture makes everything better:

Isaiah 43:1 “Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine.”