I’m sure by now everyone is familiar with the term social distancing, And I’m sure you all are as stir crazy as we are in my house! These are wild times - people hoarding toilet paper and other random supplies just to feel a little bit of control in their lives, bars and restaurants in the state are only open for takeout (that rarely happens during snow emergencies)! I know most of us have never lived through anything like this, and hopefully won't again.
I’m trying to stay sane! This coming summer was going to be my first summer having both kids home (last summer when G was born, C still attended a morning preschool program 4 days a week)... I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the idea of keeping my kids entertained and busy and enriched for 10 weeks of summer (with C being in camp for some of the summer) and now I’ve been challenged with (at least) 3 weeks of having them both home, coupled with the fact that my husband is working remotely (and my kids just want to be with him all day since he’s home). To say I’m a little stressed is an understatement, but I’m trying to be patient with myself (and the rest of my family) and remind myself that I can only do my best.
In reality, I feel lucky. It could be so much worse. I have friends who are essential employees and can’t stop working, friends who are small business owners that are suffering because their distributors are closing or suffering because they’ve had to close their business for an unknown amount of time, friends who have to work from home (both parents) and don’t have childcare. I’m lucky to be in a position where I can do my best managing the kids, while my husband works remotely.
I remind myself daily of all of these things, but it’s still hard being cooped up at home with the kids all day (especially a day like today where C woke me up at 4:30am). It’s hard to keep my kids busy, G is at an age where he isn’t independent enough to really do anything and C is at an age where he can do things, but needs me to help him get started and keep him going at times. I’m also trying not to do too much in one day, so that I actually have things to keep us busy for 3 weeks. We’ve been doing arts and craft projects, trying to read a few books every day, baking/cooking, playing games, doing puzzles, going for walks and trying to play outside while socially distancing from neighbors, and being completely honest, having lots of screen time (this is the only way I’ve stayed sane).
I’ve seen so many people posting different ideas of things to do to keep busy, so I thought I’d use this to make a suggestion - do a photography project. You don’t have to have a fancy camera for this, use your phone if that’s all you have. There are SO many things you could do, here are some ideas:
do a daily project, this is where you make a list of daily themes and take a picture using that theme. Theme ideas could be things like colors (pick a different color for each day) or they could be more abstract (like happiness, strength, doorway, sky, fun) and you take a photo each day in the way you interpret the meaning of each prompt. You could google “365 photography project” for more ideas.
do a fun photo shoot with your kids - theme ideas could be super hero, favorite characters, favorite toys/stuffed animals. Let them help decide what the project will be like (and set no expectations on how the project will go)
do a photo scavenger hunt in nature. One thing we can still do is go outside. So think of things you can easily find in nature (flowers, rocks, sticks, bugs, leaves, etc) and go for a walk or hike and take photos of everything find from your list.
water project - one thing that can be really fun (especially for the kids) is to play with water and attempt to “stop motion” on water droplets. You could fill a sensory bin with water and let them splash around while you take photos, you could give them cups of water and have them pour water back and forth while you try to catch photos of the water being poured out, full water balloons and snap picks of them being popped. This could provide hours of entertainment for the kids!
Definitely google “photography project ideas” if you’re looking for inspiration for a project. There are lots of great ideas and resources out there!
I haven’t started any specific project, but did spend one morning taking a few photos of my boys playing/watching TV and I was practicing low light (it was barely 7am when the camera came out and a gray morning, so there was no light coming in). The photos came out ok, I would have preferred better lighting, but I always enjoy practicing with lighting that challenges me.
That‘s all I have for now. I’m going to try to keep up with a post each week to share my thoughts on social distancing and how we are handling things at my house! Hope everyone is staying healthy and washing their hands!
Thanks for stopping by!
~so~
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