How to Survive Quarantine With A Toddler

We are one week through a two week (minimum) quarantine, so it feels like time to share some tips on how to quarantine with a toddler. It can be really tough stuck at home all the time, the days feel long and monotonous. But with a good routine and some novel activities, quarantine can be a breeze.

Have the Right Food

Introducing the baby/ toddler to a whole bunch of new foods they have never had before is a recipe for disaster. Before quarantine, do your best to make sure you are stocked up on staples.

Anything that is vital to your routine, you need to have enough of for 3 weeks. Get shelf-stable milk if milk is a major part of your routine, have enough diapers, if there is a special snack the baby gets every day make sure you have that on hand as well.

Also start introducing adult food if you haven’t already. The food will stretch farther if you and baby can eat the same thing. It also makes food prep simpler.

Mimic the Normal Routine

Whatever “normal” looks like, do your best to re-create that at home. If you wake up and eat breakfast at 6 on the week days, keep that up during the quarantine period. Follow the day care schedule. Try to re-create activities you would otherwise leave the house to go to. Keeping the same pattern of the day as much as possible will reduce the stress on your baby.

In our house, we usually get up between 5:30 and 6 am, then eat breakfast and get ready to go either to day care or therapy. In the morning in day care they work on Montessori activities, and we do similar skill building at therapy. Snack at 9, then lunch at 11. Nap from 12-2, another snack and some playing outside. Then dinner and bed.

Because the quarantine prevents us from going to day care or therapy, we do those activities at home. In the morning we do guided play, after nap we just free play. Just knowing when snacks, food, and nap time are can take a lot of stress off your plate.

Go Outside

Quarantine means not engaging with people outside of your family, and otherwise keeping your distance. It does not necessarily mean remaining indoors for the entire 14 days. If you have a yard, you can spend some time outside.

Consider making a garden, building some kind of fort, or just rolling a ball around. A couple of hours outside every day are a couple of hours well spent. If you are going to go outside, make sure you don’t come near anyone not quarantining with you. So your back yard should be safe, your roof deck might be safe, and a walk around the neighborhood probably isn’t all that safe (depending on your population density).

Take Your Time

Toddlers are all about mastering new skills. They want to help you with the laundry, put on their own clothes, carry things to the table, etc. Let them. After all, you have nothing but time.

Let them put their toys away, or spend 30 minutes trying to zip up their hoodie. Whatever that thing is that they want to do at exactly the wrong moment, let them do it now. My daughter likes to try to put on her own socks. Of course, most mornings we don’t have time for her to spend an hour on her socks. We do now, so I give her her socks and let her have at it.

Learn a New Skill

Every child is ready to learn something new, or apply a skill in a new way. Maybe it is time to take our pretend stirring game to a new level and actually help mom stir some food. Perhaps it is time to learn to drink from a sippy cup or a grown up cup. Maybe it is time we finally master climbing the couch or the stairs.

Babies and toddlers love practicing new skills over and over again until they master it. Show the baby a new skill and then let them have at it until they master it. It will eat up time and give you a minute to breath while they focus on the new skill.

Pouring water, putting on socks, getting dressed, using a grown up cup, threading beads, building sand castles, and cleaning up are all good skills to start practicing with your new found free time.

Listen to Your Baby

Finally, listen to your baby. Some days they will just want to sit on your lap and read, others they will want to spend all day outside. Within the framework of your new routine, offer different tasks to your child and let them choose. Be prepared to pivot when the baby gets tired of one thing.

Staying home with a baby or toddler is not easy. Especially when you can’t go anywhere. Take it easy on yourself and don’t feel like every hour of the day needs to be planned or pinterest perfect. Just take a moment and enjoy the unexpected time you have with your little one.

How are you spending your quarantine with your family? Let me know in the comments below.

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