Many families are stuck together inside their homes during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some families are tired of seeing the same faces every day for more than a year and maybe wishing that the pandemic would end so that they can go outside again and meet with friends and even strangers.
But as cases are still rising even with the vaccines, it is important to stay indoors and keep ourselves safe from this deadly disease. It can be beneficial to organize activities that will involve the entire family to prevent boredom and encourage bonding time. Many activities can be done, so here are some of the best pastimes to enjoy with your family while in lockdown.
Cooking
Cooking can be really fun when you involve the entire family in the process. As we all know, food brings people together, people of all ages and all walks of life. Inside the home, food can only bring the family closer together. Simple meal preparations like making sandwiches can be fun with younger children. In contrast, more difficult food choices involving fire and heat are more appropriate for older children.
Getting them to participate in the chopping and measuring of the ingredients or the plating and decorating of the finished product can help stimulate the people in your home instead of leaving you with all the work. After you are done cooking, you can then enjoy the fruits of your labor and eat the hearty meal you’ve prepared with your entire family.
Studying
Helping your children to study and do their homework is also a way to bond with them. Especially in this pandemic, their teachers might be inaccessible outside of their virtual classrooms while your child might be having trouble with their schoolwork. As their parents, you should be ready to fill in this teacher role and help your child do better in school. Although they might not seek your assistance, you should definitely offer to help them out, especially when you see that they are having a hard time.
Younger children should always be assisted, while older sons and daughters should be offered your help every once in a while. But sometimes, you cannot help your children in their studies even if you want to. Students who chose more difficult courses like information technology and engineering strand in senior high might be too advanced for you. Still, moral support and constant reassurance can help as they struggle to reach their academic goals.
Playing Sports
Sports can be a fun activity not just for individuals but for the entire family. Playing sports help to keep us active, and in turn, healthy and free of diseases. It also prevents people from developing negative thoughts that can lead to loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Exercise helps the brain release hormones that induce feelings of pleasure and happiness. Another benefit is how sports can teach us lessons on sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline. So having the entire family exercise by playing sports is a good way to spend our time inside our properties during this pandemic.
Gardening
You might be doing all the gardening in your house as your hobby, but you can involve your family as this can be therapeutic, especially during these stressful times. Gardening can give a sense of achievement when you’ve watched a seed sprout and grow into something beautiful. You can share this feeling with your partner and children so that everyone can better enjoy the personal piece of nature that you’ve grown inside the perimeters of your home.
Cleaning
Cleaning might be a chore that many people dread but cleaning as a family can help to make it more fun and interactive. House cleaning, either inside or out in the yard, should be done regularly, so having someone else to help can lessen the load on you.
Watching movies
We probably all enjoy watching movies. It doesn’t require much apart from our attention. This can easily be a fun family activity that you can schedule every week or even every day. Depending on whom you’ll watch with, you might have difficulty finding the right show to watch, but that is also part of the fun. You will get to know everyone on a deeper level based on what they like to watch. Just prepare the room and some nice food so that everyone will stay put and enjoy the movie better.
We are all still stuck with our families, so we might as well spend most of the time bonding and interacting. With all these activities that we can do for who-knows-how-long, boredom is no longer a problem. Let us continue keeping ourselves and our families safe while having as much fun as possible during this pandemic.
