Staying Calm & Keeping Busy During Coronavirus Scare

How are we doing?  Anyone else have PTSD from a trip to Target this morning?  While the masses fought over the remaining rolls of toilet paper and paper towels (spoiler alert~ shelves are empty), I bought a volleyball net.  And a bocce ball set.  And two soccer goals.  Because the reality is, we need to keep our little guys and gals calm.

Is this scary?  Yes.  Are we entering a time of complete paranoia when if someone so much as coughs two aisles over, we run?  Yes.  Are we quite possibly taking things to the absolute extreme right now?  I think so.  

I’m not making light of our current situation in any way.  I worry about my mom and my own daughter, who has a compromised immune system from months of prednisone treatments for a cough that just won’t disappear.  But y’all, we’ve got to take a break from the media hysteria and distract ourselves so that we don’t find ourselves living in complete and utter fear.

Spring break plans for many have been thrown out the window.  So how are we going to make the best of this situation~ one with no real end in sight, when our children still demand regular meals (so rude), entertainment, structure, and bedtimes? 

Here’s our plan:

1. We’re taking it to the garden.  We’re planting our spring crops, experimenting with starting seedlings indoors, reading up about what companion plants will work best together, and we’re each taking ownership of our own raised garden bed.  So if you’re 8, or 11, or 43 (ugh, that’s me), you’re responsible for graphing out your garden rows on paper, then planting, maintaining, and watering your own garden bed.  *This is called sneaky education. 

2. We’re cooking.  Y’all know my thoughts on cooking.  I’d rather have a root canal without anesthesia.  But opportunity is knocking on our door and with this captive audience of children expressing their feelings on boredom, I’m about to keep them real busy.  Who’s researching simple one pot meals?  Who’s finding new smoothie recipes?  Who’s working on our weekly meal plan (you know, the one that doesn’t exist yet but totally will after tomorrow)?  They are.  It’s all hands on deck.  Prep, measure, stir, clean the mess, and address the mother as “Yes, Chef!”   *I think we’ve got something good here.

3. Spring cleaning.  Nothing peeves me more than a dresser full of bundled up shirts.  We’re going through everything!  My tip for this is to keep the time limited to one hour, otherwise everyone will revolt, and you’ll be left sitting in the middle of a pile of clothing that you’d rather burn than fold and put away.  So, one hour and three piles:  keep, sell, donate.  The kids will need to sit with you and think fast, or else it’s your call!  *And we know which pile is mom’s favorite!
4. Survivor challenges.  Admittedly, we are a family of Survivor junkies.  We are working our way through each season (backwards) by watching one episode per night.  Last week when I was out of town, my husband set up a bunch of Survivor challenges, which the girls LOVED, but also resulted in one black eye (apparently, twins are like magnets and naturally run towards each other, as evidenced by Emily’s head attaching itself to Margo’s right eye).  So tonight, I’m making immunity idols and will be hiding them around our property in preparation for the games. *At this point, you are realizing that I am an original member of the Nerd Herd.  I’m totally fine with that. 
5. Movies and naps.  It’s time to just chill out.  I feel like we have all been running on complete and utter overdrive: hoarding pantry items, disinfecting all the surfaces (including the bottle of disinfectant), watching the bad news, waiting to hear about school closures.  It’s stressful. We need to take care of ourselves right now to ensure that we are mentally and physically a-ok to care for others!  *Because guess what? We still have to worry about other things, like the flu.  

This is a lot for us to handle. But we’re all in it together. We need an extra dose of humor and grace and patience to help propel us through the next few weeks. We’re going to be ok. And we’re going to have cleaner houses, freezers full of waffles, and 17 years worth of pasta to show for it. And ten years from now, I HOPE that we can look back on this time and think, “Remember when we bought 76 rolls of toilet paper and 82 cans of corn during Corona Break?? What were we thinking?” 

Jen McDonald is a mother to three and wife to one. She lives in Houston, TX, and can be found washing her hands, coughing in her sleeve and napping from 1-2pm each day for the next two weeks. Follow Jen’s adventures at www.instagram.com/jenmcdhome