Guide to keeping your kids busy in the times of COVID-19

In the wake of the rising number of coronavirus cases, the world has come to a standstill. Amidst a nation-wide lockdown, parents and kids now find themselves confined within the walls of their houses for a really long time.

Since kids can’t actively participate in their regular routines, this brings some new challenges for parents especially when most of us are working from home as well. Fulfilling all your responsibilities with limited or no help and ensuring that your entire family is healthy can be an overwhelming experience for many.

We have come up with a guide for you to navigate this uncharted territory successfully. 

Set a routine

Just like you plan your work day, set a routine for your child as well. Get them ready in the morning in their summer wear and prepare a list of things you would like them to complete during the day. Be it learning something online, reading books or dancing to their favorite music; create a list which also includes fixed eating, working and sleeping schedules. Make sure to prepare an eight hour plan which while keeping them busy will also help you to work peacefully.

Easy Indoor Activities

While setting a routine for your child, you can include the following activities:

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OKAY! LET ME JUST SAY IT.... Dear Parents, STOP CRIBBING STOP ROLLING EYES TO THESE SELF QUARANTINE DAYS . I know parents who are always super busy with their professional duties and they generally always talk about how they never get enough time to spend with their kids . Now, they have got some, I just see them texting or saying-"Hey bhagwaan" "I am so irritated" "It's been just two days and I can't do this" "trapped with kids" and many other stressed unhappy messages . (Especially for Fathers) . If your kid is not enjoying your company or you don't know exactly what and how to spend time with kids, please consider to fix it. Now! . You don't need to know 'pinteresty' activities for this. Love them, dance, music, watching their favourite movie, cooking what they like will definitely bring you closer . Couples can actually share the load and utilise this time to make bond stronger #quarantineandchill . Parents who didn't get time to have a date night can put baby to sleep and chit chat with a hot cuppa . Shift your perspective a little and you won't even know where time flies ❤️ . . . . . . . #coronaviruspandemic #parentinglife #indianparentingblog #indianmomsconnect #mombloggerstribe #indianfamily #momspresso #indiantoddler #toddlerlife #covid_19 #selfquarantine

A post shared by Shveta Berry (@berrylicious.me) on Mar 20, 2020 at 3:00am PDT

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Simple activity using the #bestoutofwaste.. Kept them busy for hours atleast.. Not just kids it's a family timepass for sure....

A post shared by Sulbha Bathwal (@twinsandmamatalks) on Mar 23, 2020 at 4:03am PDT

• Build a reading habit
  
  Apart from gaining knowledge and learning new language skills, reading helps to stimulate a child’s imagination, improves concentration, exercises their brain and keeps them calm. Since time immemorial, reading has been considered to be one of the best habits to have. It is a great time to motivate your child to pursue it and the best way to do it is by practicing what you preach! If your kid sees you take out time to read everyday, they will join in too. 

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#LORM_JammedWithTheFam [Virtual] Read a book out loud As soon as the realization happened about the #covid19 scenario, I wanted to have a routine in place so that Zoe can be engaged at home. I started by decluttering the toy cupboards, the day we stopped sending Zoe to school (a week before the mandatory school shutdown.) Fast forward to today (3 weeks later) we still don’t have a routine in place – It’s wake up, wash up, play, lunch, nap, play and sleep and I think I wouldn’t change anything about it. The TV has gone into hibernation mode, and since we can’t get that fixed anytime soon, screen time hasn’t been possible and I was relying on that for a lot of things. 🤷‍♀️ So, anyway all this has led me to discover other ways to keep a child in a nuclear set up a bit less bored and one of my 💡 genius plans is a virtual book reading session by my virtual baby sitter (who btw, doesn’t charge a paisa 🥳) and will, hopefully, still do this in the coming days with props and all that jazz. Thank you #technology for bridging the social distance and entertaining kids who are cooped up at home. If you don’t have a virtual sitter like the one we hired today :P there are a lot of authors like @oliverjeffers and entertainers like @maajanaki who are doing good stuff on live videos. Comment if you know any more such awesome virtual clubs. . Swipe to see the impromptu reading, from the Action Bible, that Zoe who’s obsessed with. He’s literally handed over a tough section of the action bible to be read-out (Paul’s letter to Timothy.) 😅😂 Considering the sitter didn’t have a copy, he settled on another chapter for today. More story time than read-aloud, but Zoe thoroughly enjoyed listening to you, Uncle Danny! :D . . Thanks @gracepjacob for this action Bible recommendation and thank you @wordofchristlit for making it available for all of us and for this copy ❤️ and @michellejob 😘 . . What’s your little’s current favorite book and age? Comment here ❤️ . . #raisingareader #readaloud #quarantineAndchill #actionbible #bible #gharrahogezindarahoge

A post shared by Gracelyne (@thegracelog) on Mar 25, 2020 at 7:19am PDT

With no exposure to the outside world and outdoor activities it would be a good thing to connect them every once in a while with their friends! Video calling their friends can cheer them up and they can share stories of their day. Make sure to talk to them and spend quality time with them every day.

Together, we can win this war against the virus.
Stay in and stay safe!