5 Tips To Come Together As A Household During COVID-19 Lockdown

Even the happiest of households are feeling the recent and unexpected challenges of financial uncertainty, shared small spaces, and the loss of former rituals and routines. However, a small shift in perspective may allow this unprecedented time to serve as a powerful opportunity to come together as a household and develop new and improved ways of being with each other. While you cannot control the pandemic, you can stay at home, wash your hands and focus on what you can: each other.

* Practice Compassion

Given the stress of recent events, grant each other some additional grace, kindness and forgiveness as you navigate the changing COVID-19 landscape together. We are all experiencing heightened levels of uncertainty and facing unique disruptions to our daily lives. Validating each other’s feelings and offering an extra dose of patience is critical. To practice extra kindness and compassion perhaps have each house member brainstorm one way to do something nice for another housemate: watch someone else’s favorite show, bake their favorite meal or play their favorite game. Couples may consider establishing new rules or rituals to help them navigate living and working together. For instance, partners could choose to safely place frustrations on a list which is addressed at the end of each week, or even create two “one free pass per day” cards to hand to each other after something uncharacteristically mean was said or done.

* Find Opportunities to Break Routine

Look for opportunities to do things that perhaps you could not or did not do in your daily lives before COVID-19. Creating a quarantine bucket list, either separately or together, is a creative way to brainstorm the many opportunities that exist during this unique time. Sharing your lists and supporting each other as you cross each item off is a great way to bond. For instance, families could consider planning weekly themed dinners where everyone is encouraged to dress the part. Roommates could take turns hiding a random household object, and if it goes undiscovered, the other could take responsibility for a household chore. Couples may choose to establish nightly reconciliation walks during which they stroll around their neighborhood, apologize for any missteps and hit an emotional reset button for the evening.

* Exercise Together

Benefit your physical health, your mental wellbeing and your relationships by working out together. Although many gyms and workout studios have temporarily closed, there is no dearth of ways to move your body from home. From family-friendly online workout resources, like these Disney inspired workouts, to virtual group classes and equipment-free workout apps, there is an abundance of online wellness resources available.Every minute of movement counts, so adding physical activity to things you already do together, like performing body weight exercises while watching your household’s favorite show, is another great way to exercise as a team. Or, put on some music and dance together. Plus, studies have shown that boosting your heartrate alongside others can help boost happiness and strengthen emotional bonds.

* Share Good News

One of the easiest ways to make sharing good parts of your day routine is to get in the habit of going over one daily high, low and funny moment with each other. Whether at dinner or sometime before bed, sharing daily highs, lows and hahas helps build empathy, understanding and emotional connection. Ensure that when your partner, roommate or family share their daily high, low and haha moments, you make them feel appreciated and supported by being present, leaning in and making eye contact.

* Pay Them A Daily Compliment

Doing someone in your home a favor is a great way to foster positivity and connection, especially if it is something thoughtful that makes your partner’s, roommate’s or family’s life easier. Checking something off of their to-do list, by doing the dishes, feeding the family pet, or even just watching their favorite show with them, can show them how appreciative you are. To create an atmosphere of appreciation among siblings consider jotting down any acts of kindness you notice between your kids, or that they report to you, and read those excerpts every night at dinner. Paying compliments to your partner, roommate or family is another way to show how much you appreciate them every day. You can say something nice about their values, their passions, their looks or how they make you feel. For children, it can be helpful to provide sentence starters like, “Today, I appreciated that Mom…” or “This week, it made me feel happy when Dad…”. Whether you communicate in person or by handwritten notes, sharing positive thoughts and emotions with each other can bring more positivity into any household and spark meaningful communication.