Getting creative in Lockdown - Part 1

We've done a pretty good job of filling week one and it's taken us by surprise how much more challenging it is to do this over the weekend than in the week. We're thinking that we need to have some proactive creative ideas ready of our own for over the weekends to keep up the momentum and prevent us having dips.

It's really incredible to see how creative organisations are getting to keep engagement with children and we've benefited massively from online classes for things the children usually do, from dancing and arts and crafts sessions, to live disco parties and gymnastics. 

Some of our week one highlights include:

• The look on my little boy's face when we joined his tumble bees class and he saw his best friend from nursery on the screen (and then followed it up with a video chat the next day) - thank you Jayne at Tumble Bees
• My daughter showing off her good toes and naughty toes (and definitely smelly toes) at her ballet class - thank you Miss Kim at Baby Ballet
• Seeing my husband dancing around the living room with the kids doing a live movement and music class put one of the biggest smiles on my face (check it out here)
• A family game of football in the garden, as well as countless games of hide and seek in which my four year old tells us where he "isn't" going to hide
• A live reading of The Gruffalo with Bookchikkaboom (resulting in us just tickling each other pretending to be the prickles on his back)
• Dressing up as pirates and tinkerbell
• Making dens, camping and having picnics
• Visiting Chester Zoo (a place we love to go as a family) live to watch the giraffes being fed

I've seen some amazing ideas and every Mum I know is being incredible sharing links to new ideas and classes so I'm looking forward to planning out the next week with one new idea each day to keep us going. I'd love to share any other hints and tips people have.

I've got a few creative ideas up my sleeve, which I'll share as soon as we put them into practice, but in the meantime I'm storing up random household objects and would love if anyone has any ideas on what we can do with them. So far I have about a dozen toilet roll holders, a butter carton and some yoghurt pots!

Week One - wishes of the week

I woke up this morning feeling more downbeat than I was earlier in the week. 

I've realised that working in between looking after the kids is good for keeping my brain occupied and that if I'm going to get through this with my mental health in tact, I need something to give it a workout on non-work days.

It's the real reason I've started this blog (and to stop my cleaning becoming super obsessive!). 

I had a blog for a short period after having my little boy and it was a similar thing; it was an outlet. Writing has always been a passion of mine and as a PR professional it's probably one of the reasons that my day job is giving me a good distraction during the week. 

But between Friday and Sunday I can't just keep working, nor do I want to take away from precious family time. So I'm going to use my moments of anxiety to write in a bid to avoid any wallowing.

It's not to say that this blog will be downbeat - quite the opposite in fact - I want it to uplift me and if it helps uplift anyone else then that's a bonus. I want to look back and smile at how resourceful we've been and how we made the best of a horrible situation.

So this week we created the jar and started to add to it. Some favourites of mine that we've added include:

• Welcoming two new baby cousins into our lives soon after this is all over
• Visiting Thomas Land (we were due to go in April) and Digger Land (near to us and we've never quite got around to going)
• Going to Chester Zoo (we have an annual pass already) and specifically going to see the giraffes (my little girl's request) and the monkeys (little boy's request). Please don't judge my drawing skills!!
• Having fish and chips with Granny and Grandad
• Going for a nice lunch with Grandma, Popsie and Aunties and Uncles
• Going out for pizza...in Italy
• Going back to swimming, ballet and tumble lessons
• Inviting some of our closest friends round for a BBQ
• Seeing my own Auntie and Uncle and giving them a hug

There are many more - we've gone a bit nuts this week - but these are some of the things that are extra special. What are everyone's favourite wishes of the week?

A little thank you

To say the last week has been mental is an understatement. 

My Facebook post about creating a bucket list in a jar during these difficult times went viral, with almost 100k shares, interest from media, invites to write guest blogs from as far away as Canada, charities and psychologists wanting to share and complete strangers from as near as my own village and far as Australia, South Africa and the US messaging me to express thanks and love for what we’re doing. 

I never thought our little idea would travel so far and I’m so happy that it might be bringing a small amount of joy to a whole lot of people (particularly to children who don’t really know what’s going on which was what inspired the whole thing in the first place). 

Thanks to everyone who has shared, shown support and embraced this idea. It just goes to show in the face of a crisis we’re all human and we all need a bit of hope right now.

The thought of this little wish is one of the bigger things giving me hope and keeping me going - love you Mum xxxxx

Bucket list in a jar

When I wrote a Facebook post about a Lockdown idea I never expected it to have the far-reaching and overwhelmingly positive response that it did and I am so grateful to everyone who has engaged with it, shared their family’s story and why they want to do it, and supported me along the way.

As it looks like we are in this thing for the long haul now, I have decided I’d like to document what we are doing so that my family and I can look back on it and the long-term plan is to gradually show how we are working through (what I expect is going to be) a pretty long bucket list.

For those interested in how this idea came about, it started the first day of official Lockdown in the UK.

Explaining to toddlers what is going on right now is not easy. But what’s really important to me is to make our home a positive place so that my two and four year-old feel safe.

I know when they look back they won’t remember details, but they might remember how our home felt.

I’d had a jar sat on the window sill in the kitchen for four years, which was supposed to be for us to write down happy memories to take out at the end of each year and look back and smile. It didn’t get the momentum behind it we’d intended (not least because we had a newborn baby to take care of).

As Lockdown loomed, I quickly realised that we were going to have to say no to lots of things (and let’s face it no is a word that toddlers love to say but not to hear). It breaks my heart to say that they can’t hug their Grandparents, see their friends or even play on the swings.

So, we started a new thing. Instead of saying no, we would say yes to everything – one day.

Every time we wish we can do something, go somewhere, treat ourselves, see someone we love, visit a new place, invite people to visit us, we write it down on a post it note and put it in a jar.

When all this is over it will be our bucket list and we’ll work our way through the jar and be more grateful than ever for the little and lovely things in our lives. We’re including:

• The everyday things we take for granted (visiting Grandparents, going to the zoo, playing with friends, going swimming and to baby ballet/tumble bees)
• Things we had planned that are now cancelled (building sandcastles on holiday, going to birthday parties, family meals/celebrations)
• Dream list ideas to make every moment count (e.g. Disney World)

It’s essentially turning a negative (we can’t do that) into a positive (one day we will) and instead of missing everything we can’t do, it’s giving us hope and helping us to look forward to the day we can.

Until then we’re going to enjoy watching the jar fill up with magical things to look forward to.

If you’re still reading well done for getting through this really long post and I really can't thank everyone enough for all their support.

I’d love to hear everyone’s ideas and see the pictures of everyone doing their jars  along the way and I’ll try and share what I can in between the madness of work and childcare.