Like many Americans, our family is social distancing and we have been mostly inside of our apartment for weeks now. Now that everything is online each day things are much different. The kids have schoolwork online but it is difficult. Difficult because all of us are online taking classes and I don’t always know where and how to access all of their assignments when they ask for help. The teachers originally thought this would only be 3 weeks and now they are still trying to move everything online as well. I can’t imagine how hard this is for them also. Everyone is doing the best they can for a situation that we couldn’t prepare for in advance.

The more difficult problem? All the big emotions for all of us. Each of us deals with what they are feeling differently. I hop on my Wahoo Kickr for bike rides, log onto Zwift from my living room, and tour virtual locales such as Innsbruck, Richmond and even London to burn some energy. The bonus to riding indoors is that I can ride my stationary bike watching TV or a movie and really take my mind off the more serious things. Sometimes one child or another will just be angry for no obvious reason or start crying. They are sad that they didn’t get to say goodbye to their friends. They are scared that people they know or love could be sick or get sick. Our youngest is scared to leave the apartment because he doesn’t want to pick up the virus. Another goes out for long walks. I try to keep all these things in mind when they are lashing out about something trivial. I try to be extra patient when they are acting out and I try to remember that they are are just trying to process a lot of things too. We talk a lot. We pray.

Another big change is shopping. We try to plan a menu for 2-3 weeks at a time. Normally, we would go to different stores and buy fresh fruit and vegetables 2-3 times a week. Now we try to buy enough so we only have to go out once every 2 weeks to just one store. Right after our shopping trip we enjoy fresh fruits and salads. At the end of two weeks or so we use frozen fruit to make smoothies and have applesauce, fruit cups and juice boxes. I do find myself baking more. I’ve made 4 loaves of bread in the past two weeks in addition to several treats. We never really went out to eat very much so that hasn’t been much of an adjustment.

Another change has been screen time. The limits have increased substantially. I know not everyone will agree with me on this one. We still do other things but we are a family of 5 living in a small apartment. There is only so much to do each day. I try to engage my kids in art projects and we do all do chores but I have still loosened up the restrictions on screens. I don’t think it’s the worst thing for the kids to be able to focus on a movie or a video game. On the tougher days it gives them a small break from sadness or worry. When this is all in the past we will go back to going out places together.

This Easter was also different. Two of my kids spent time with me coloring and decorating paper Easter eggs to hang in our apartment. They are older but they still enjoyed coloring, cutting and hanging decorations. We also dressed up and attended Church from the sofa. We then took a family picture and had a nice meal. Our penchant for advance planning paid off handsomely when we were still able to put some chocolate in a basket to surprise the kids.

The picture below is from a long walk with my dog a bit before the stay at home order took effect. The streets were already empty for the most part. It was quiet and also eerie walking through a normally bustling city. I do look forward to being outdoors more again and seeing family and friends.