Dancing trough a Pandemic

Some days are harder than others. Sometimes we get great sleep, everyone is in a good mood, and we feel super productive. Other days we are just bairly hanging on and doing everything we can to keep from losing our minds.

This post isn’t about the good days. The days when the sun is shining and the baby is laughing. No, this post is about the days when all you want to do is curl up in the fetal position and cry.

Yesterday was a bad day. No one slept. The baby decided 3:30 am was a fantastic wake up time. There was no easy food, the kitchen was a mess, and everyone was at the end of their patience. So what did we do to keep from killing each other? We danced.

Multi Purpose Stress Release

These days I am always on the lookout for activities that keep the toddler happy while providing me with value. That value could come in the form of stress relief, a moment of time to do something I need to do, a break in the monotony, or even just a moment of rest.

Activities that help restore sanity are few and far between when an 18 month old is involved. Especially when the stress of the situation is causing sleep regression. So here are some activities to help break up the routine and maintain sanity.

Get Outside

Even if it is just a quick walk to get the mail, get that baby playing outside. Burning off as much energy as possible is important, and a much more difficult task when staying home and social distancing. Go for walks, play with a ball in the backyard, start a garden or build a sandbox, and use found objects (like boxes and spare tires) to build an obstical course in the backyard.

As things get warmer, involve some water. Play in a sprinkler, or hold the hose while the baby plays in the water. Kiddy pools are really cheap and can be used for a cheap ball pit in the off season.

Spending time outside can help tire out the little one. A tired baby sleeps much better than one with spare energy. Do what you have to to tire them out.

Learn a Task

This one gives longer-term benefits. If you help the baby develop habits and learn how to do tasks, they eventually fall off your plate.

Easy tasks for young toddlers include: cleaning up messes, putting away toys, setting and clearing the table, unstacking the dishwasher, and some cooking tasks. Always go at the pace of your toddler and understand these tasks may not be done at the level you might have done them at.

This morning while un-stacking the dishwasher, I heard the baby drop something. She ran over to the laundry, pulled out a cloth, and wiped up the water she spilled. All without prompting. Why? Because when she made a mess, I didn’t get mad, I just got a cloth and had her help me clean it up. Now she is cleaning up spills all on her own. 4 of them so far today (I suspect she is making them on purpose so she can practice).

It seems small, but knowing she will wipe up a spill takes something off my massive to-do list. Anything that reduces that list, however small it seems, reduces my stress level. She is also getting good at cleaning up her toys after use. While I still help her and prompt cleanup, I am only doing about half the cleanup these days. I suspect I will not need to do much toy cleanup by the end of next week.

She has been setting her own place for about two months now, and she hands me everything she can reach from the dishwasher to help me unstack it. Both of these activities build life skills and burn energy. Win/win in my book.

Burn Some Energy

Half the battle is burnign off a toddler’s immense stores of energy. Sometimes the ways to do that don’t look pretty, especially for tired parents.

Our go-to’s these days include fetch (yes we throw a ball and have the baby chase it), playing 52 card pickup (scattering a deck of cards on the floor and having the baby pick them up and put them through a slot), soccer (kicking a ball around), and dancing.

When I realized our little one was loving dancing, I found some zumba and dance classes on youtube. We put those on when we really need to burn some energy, and I get a workout out of the deal. Without the midday dance workout, I would not be able to fit in a workout until around 8pm when the baby is in bed. It is nice to have something we can do together so I can benefit too.

Read

Yes, we all know we are supposed to read to our children. What they don’t say is it doesn’t matter what exactly you read them. Need to read a manual for work? A text for school? Have you been eyeing that new best seller? Read them to your kiddo.

Ditch the children’s books for now (unless they bring you a specific book) and read the things you are interested in out loud. It won’t take long for the baby to communicate what parts they don’t understand. Just explain those parts and have fun with it.

Don’t just have reading time. Use reading time to your advantage.

Lean on the Grandparents

Calling grandma (or other close relation/ friend) can eat up a good 30 minutes to an hour. They can play with the little one through the phone and give you a break. Depending on your relationship, they could even give you a moment to do some work.

If you are going to routinely use this as a form of distraction, I would recommend investing in a good screen lock so they baby can’t accidentally hang up on the grandparents… or download spotify…

Sensory Play

Toddlers can become engrossed in sensory activities for hours. A little kinetic sand or playdough goes a long way. Don’t have access to either? Try a big bowl of ice or bowls of different temerature waters (set this up on a towel).

A bin of rice (cooked or raw) can be fun to play with. So can beans or other dry goods. Putting dry goods in bottles the baby can shake is a great sensory activity, as is filling a bottle with water and oil.

And if you have a spare keyboard, the little one could be very happy “typing” while you work.

Use a Podcast, live stream, or other content

Look, we all know screen time is bad for our kids. We also all need a break. So if you have to use screen time, use quality screen time that might just teach them something. Plus scheduling a regular live stream can make you feel like you have accomplished something. You made an appointment (YAY!).

Sesame Street- All of Sesame Street is available on HBO and Amazon prime. You can also get a lot of segments (and songs) free on YouTube.

Reading Rainbow- Old episodes are available on Netflix, newer episodes are available on Amazon Prime, and LeVar Burton is looking into ways for mobile users to get the new episodes. LeVar Burton is also doing a live stream every Friday on Twitter. Check out this article from the Smithsonian for more ideas and details.

Documentaries- There are thousands of documentaries on YouTube, Netflix, amazon prime, HBO, and Hulu. Whatever your TV situation, you should be able to land a good nature or history documentary. There are also several science and math documentaries out there.

Above All, Stay Sane

We are in uncharted territory. Busier than ever, we are being forced stop and stay home. The pressures many of us are under have not been experienced in this way in history. Everything is new, and everything is much more difficult.

Cut yourself some slack. Do what you need to do to survive. Don’t feel bad for having too much screen time, or not getting out enough. Don’t feel like you need to find ways to have play dates despite everything being closed. Just take a breath and dance it off. Above all, do your best to find some time to unwind every day.

What are you doing these days to stay sane?

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