How to Stay Sane with your Teens During Social Distancing

Who even had heard of social distancing two weeks ago? Introverts practice it well and now the rest of us are being called to give it a shot in an effort to stop the rapid spread of COVID-19. There are a lot of unknowns. We are all learning how to navigate a world in a pandemic. Let's try to navigate this together and find ways to stay busy and sane with your teens during social distancing. I have a few ideas for you.

 How to Stay Sane with your Teens During Social Distancing

If we are being called to stay home and hunker down, at least it's with the people we love the most. But that doesn't mean this time will be easy. Here are some ways to keep busy with teens and stay sane while under the same roof.
How can you stay sane at home with your kids? I've got a few tips.
If you have teenagers like me, you're probably facing more family togetherness time than you are used to.  Here are some ideas of things you can do together.

Cleaning and Organizing

1. Sort through old projects and decide which are really worth keeping and which should be thrown out
2. Go through drawers and closets and make a pile of clothes to donate
3. Clean and organize bathroom products
4. Go through old photos
5. Create a photo book for your family
6. Bonus points if you create a photo book to send to grandparents
7. Write notes to the elderly
8. Delete apps off your phone you no longer use
9. Tackle that house project you've been putting off
10. Show your teens how to clean the fridge or the cooktop
11. Go through this list of 10 life skills every teen needs before they go to college and see what you can do to check all of them off the list.
12. Order gifts for upcoming birthdays or weddings
13. Organize the craft closet
14. Take the time to unsubscribe to e-mail lists you are on
15. Talk about finances with your kids and come up with long-term plans
16. Wash and change the sheets
17. Do a deep clean of the bathroom
18. Detail your cars
19. Wash makeup brushes
20. Clean all your white shoes and make them white again

Connect with Others

1. Facetime friends and family members
2. Deliver groceries or supplies to an elderly friend or neighbor
3. Support a local small business and write a glowing review
4. Support a local restaurant {not a chain} and order a meal to go
5. Buy a gift card for your local small business and salon to use later
6. Find your local small business on-line, order and share it with others
7. Reach out to those in the medical profession and see if you can help them with childcare or bring them a meal
8. Make a meal for a new mom to be delivered
9. Connect with your local church to find out what the needs are in the community
10. Put out a box with snacks and a note for the delivery people that come to your door

Self-Care 

1. Start a workout at home. I love OpenFit and they are offering a 30-day free trial. Use code FRIENDSFAM
2. Take a bath and then give it a deep clean
3. Sleep in and take naps
4. Join the water challenge
5. Try a family yoga class {OpenFit has a lot!}
6. Give a manicure and a pedicure 
7. Cut your own bangs {kidding...totally kidding, just seeing if you were paying attention!}
8. Read a book {I'm reading this one now and would recommend it}
9. Make a smoothie, milkshake or mocktail together
10. Plan a family trip you can take after all this is over

Just for Fun

1. Have your teens teach you something new {like TikTok}
2. Learn a dance together
3. Listen to a podcast on personal finance {I recently recorded this one about college and tackling our home mortgage}
4. Watch Rick Steves on Amazon Video and plan a trip
5. Start a family bucket list
6. Take out the old cookbooks and find new recipes to try
7. Cook a new recipe
8. Learn how to sew {I learned how to sew with this hair scrunchie tutorial}
9. Have a movie night
10. Try to learn a new skill like needlepoint and cross-stitch your family portrait
11. Have a family game night {you can find our favorites at the bottom of this post}
12. Print out a crossword or sudoku and have a family challenge to see who can complete it
13. Do a puzzle
14. Watch a TED talk together
15. Listen to a book together
16. Find something new the library has to offer for FREE
17. Apply for college scholarships {kids are never too young!}
18. Plant a garden
19. Tackle a home project {this is one of my favorites}
20. Host your own in-house canvas painting party

Want more tips? Here is everything you need to know to survive the quarantine.

I know we all have said at one point or another how we wish we had more time together, especially as the kids get older, well friends, that time is now! Take advantage of it. 

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