Self-Care for Self-Isolating Families
We often think of self-care as something we do just for ourselves. The truth is that your self-care efforts can easily extend to your entire family. If you are one of the many families continuing to stay close to home as the pandemic (hopefully) begins to end, keep reading. Here, we present a few fun strategies to keep everyone in your household happy.
Start a new hobby.
Hobbies are good for everyone for a number of reasons. First, they give you something to turn your attention to when things get stressful. Further, hobbies can be a creative outlet and an especially good way for children to understand and translate their emotions. Goat Yoga Bham offers goat yoga for individuals and families and may even be booked for private events. Yoga is an excellent hobby for your family to take up in isolation as it reduces stress and can help you be better in tune with your mind and body. Add goats, and who could possibly be moody?!
Establish healthy routines.
Routines are crucial for childhood development. But it is not just the smallest members of your household that will benefit from having a predictable schedule. Sit down with your family to plan out how the majority of your activities will go. Have set times for everything from dinner to school, and make sure that your entire crew knows when you are off-limits for work. Also, don’t forget to earmark time for your family hobbies, movie nights, or outings.
Refresh your space.
You’ll know that cutting yourself off from the world is getting you down if you realize everyone in your family is cranky almost 100 percent of the time. Fortunately, you can take a few simple steps to revitalize the space inside of your home so that things feel more optimistic all around. Redfin makes several smart suggestions, including opening the windows, clearing out excess clutter, deep cleaning, and using sage to shoo negativity right out the door.
Insist on bedtime.
Obviously, you and your kids have to sleep every night. However, you may now know that not getting enough sleep can change your brain’s activity and can leave you cranky, sluggish, and less able to cope with stress. Ensure that your family has a set bedtime schedule. Younger children should go to bed first, followed by older kids and teens. Give yourself and your spouse at least 30 minutes after everyone else goes to bed to talk and cuddle before settling in yourself.
Interact with others.
While it is true that we should keep our social activities to a minimum, it is possible to enjoy a brief, physically-distanced encounter with friends and family. Lack of socialization is one reason that young children and adults alike are as stressed as we are. Contra Costa Health Services recommends that gatherings be limited to the outdoors with just a few close friends or family. An afternoon together may be enough to break up the monotony with some positivity.
Self-care and self-isolation should go hand-in-hand. Not just for you, but for your entire family as well. Prioritize everyone’s well-being, and you may just find that it’s much easier to get through the long, cold winter together. Most of all, maintain hope. With vaccines being approved, we are one step closer to seeing a return to normalcy.
Goat Yoga Bham offers a gentle and relaxing goat yoga experience for beginner and expert yogis alike. If your family is stressed and strained to the max, let our baby goats (and a little bit of yoga) soothe your soul while you wait out the coronavirus crisis.
Emma Grace Brown
Freelance Writer