Parenting in a pandemic: “What do you do all day?”
our favorite ways to spend long cozy days at home.
One of our favourite ways to spend the day is playing board games. They teach critical thinking, math, reasoning, and self-regulation skills. Not all board games are created equal and we try to find ones that are as much fun to play for adults as for kids. For the younger crowd, we really enjoy Outfoxed and My First Orchard. Both of these games are cooperative and everyone works together to succeed. For kids who are ready for a bit more strategy we really enjoy the games King Domino, Queen Domino, Sleeping Queens, Santorini, Quirkle, Harry Potter Battle, Tiny Ninjas, Sushi Go and the Catan Family edition
Not all moments playing board games are perfectly joyful, there are lots of times for the tough lessons of letting go of control, or not being able to win, or the dice never rolling your way. When you have all day at home there is time to make space for the emotions that can come from navigating these lessons.
My personal favourite way to spend the day is by sinking into stories. It leads to such deep conversations and a great window into each other’s values and passions. They can also lead to much inspiration for amazing projects. The book PIE, for example, starts each chapter with a different pie recipe that our family has been working our way through. Harry Potter can lead to a study in herbology and potions. We have read so many books in the last five years, but some stand out from the crowd: books like Winnie the Pooh, Wonder, and Wish Tree teach us that kindness can change the world and the true meaning of friendship. Percy Jackson, Mary Poppins, and Pippy Longstocking, Ronja, and Redwall take you on sweeping adventures that you will never forget. The Penderwicks, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, The Vanderbeekers, and The miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane show us what families are truly capable of. When we read these books we pause to talk about new words we may not know, we copy down lines that move us to keep on cue cards, we talk about which characters move us and what we would do when faced with the same situation. We laugh and we cry and we start over again.
If reading out loud is not something that works for your family there is always the amazingly accessible resource of audio books. The incorrigible Children of Ashton’s Place is an incredible performance and The Very Nearly Honourable League of Pirates had us captivated for days.
These next few weeks we all have permission to put our lives on hold, to give children time to cultivate their interests and be with us in relationship. These stories and games have helped guide us on our journey and our hope is you may find one that lights up your days as well.