“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

Soren Kierkegaard

My kids are bored.

What do I do? 😅

While there are tons of great free resources for educators and parents online now, it’s not easy to determine where to start or how to make use of them given everything that is competing for your attention.

Here are several suggestions to make this transition more manageable and fun:

1. “CC Time” - Creative Connection Time.

Set a time where you regularly connect with your family to create and be fully present.

I call this CC time: creative connection time. This can be during a meal or during a set hour either before or after ‘work hours’ or over the weekend. The key is to dedicate a consistent time to unplug from our devices, be fully present with our family members, and do something creative. It may be something that you lead as a parent. It may be something your children take turns creating. Make it fun but most importantly routine to ensure everyone looks forward to it, dedicates effort to it, and is fully present. Even when this crisis passes, CC Time can be a powerful way to connect with your family!

2. Rediscover Adventures and Problem-Solving

Opportunities at Home

Ignite your creativity by actively utilizing every resource you have at home!

Everything can be reused for something else, or repurposed into something else. Invite your family members, children and adults, to challenge themselves to rethink how they see, or use, your home. If you don’t have a home office, challenge your family members to help you transform a space into your home, or create a space for your computer that is suitable for video calls. Need more “me time” without coming across the “wrong” way? Challenge your family to create “do not disturb” signs as a positive way to give each other space. Seeing your home as a place for discovery and adventure can set the stage for children to be curious and adventurous outside of the home, too.

(Our ReImagine, SPARK and Infinity Cards are a great tool to help facilitate this!)

3. Co-Creation Opportunities

Invite children to co-create with your family!

Moments are powerful.

It would be sad for us to reach post-COVID19 and not capitalize on the opportunity to deeply connect, share (and make) fun memories, and learn about our family members more deeply than ever before. This is a unique opportunity. How do we make the most out of it?

While this approach may depend on how old your children are, the intentional thought in how you co-create activities, initiatives, and roles at home will help you alleviate the pressure that you have to figure all of this out alone. Sharing the creation role also means sharing ownership which will empower children and other family members to use their voice. It’s also great practice in leadership, communication, and planning that will serve your children in the future.

Here are several ideas—some created by me, and some shared by others—to help you co-create moments with your loved ones.

1. Master a new skill and make time to celebrate the learning together

Whether it's cooking, video editing, music, drawing, or dancing, 30 days is a good amount of time to master a new skill or hone an existing one. If a child already has interest in one, ask them how they would use this month to dedicate time and discipline to master it. Set weekly reporting time so they share progress and you can celebrate weekly milestones together.

2. Create a new experience/routine together

What are things you or your family have wanted to do for a while that you put aside? List a few items and explore how each week, as a family, you make time to do them and share the journey. The list will keep you accountable and also forward thinking.

I’ve seen friends creating Hogwarts experiences at home with their children and filming them into mini video clips. They’ve made costumes and learned video editing. I’ve also seen families where their college-age children put a list of life-skills together they want to learn such as sewing, cooking, computers, and personal finance. Then family members are assigned to be professors for each life skill.

Creating “me time” as my two worlds collide 😀. 

Every family member needs “me-time” and time for self-care!

It’s not selfish. It’s an investment in you that allows you to recharge in order to be more present, reflective, and happy with our family members. To make the most out of this, you’ll want to first:

• Know what brings you joy and happiness,
• Know what brings your energy down,
• Know how you can make time and space to do the things that bring you joy
• Know how you can give a signal to your family members that you need your “me time”
• And know what your other family members’ “me time” signals look like.

In other words, self-awareness, open communication, and compassionate understanding for every family member will be activated. This will allow you to be creative and find joy while respecting, and honoring space for everyone to stay positive, sane, and creative.

Here are different approaches:

More Resources For You

I hope this adds positivity to your day.

Here are additional resources I created that I hope will help you stay positive and creative. We have to pace ourselves and be mindful. We’ll get through this. If you have any other questions and ideas, please reach out via email at [email protected].