Making this thread so I can pool the articles I’m finding and commiserate with anyone else cooped up with their high energy small human. If I’m the only one using it, all well. 
Song to help kids was their hands properly:
Working from home with a kid underfoot:
Source of ideas for activities with small humans
And some humor
On another note, ARGH at our day care for not sending any notice whatsoever about if they’re going to be open tomorrow morning. Are they following the schools and not opening? Will they be open anyway as spring break childcare since they were going to be open during normal spring break? WHO KNOWS. We’ve been out of love with this day care for a while but our hands are kind of tied so we are (were?) stuck with them through the end of May.
+1 to the unstructured play. I run two businesses from home with my 15 month old and unstructured playtime is how I get literally anything done. She has a large baby jail with lots of toys in my studio, her entire room is baby proofed to an inch of its life for her to play there, and a big part of our living room is contained and baby proofed so that I can use my computer and work while she plays there. It gets to be a mess with all the toys but it works.
I had a lot of unstructured playtime as a kid and it definitely helped grow my imagination.
I can’t seem to link to the episode directly, but the most recent episode of “But Why?” podcast is about the coronavirus and washing hands. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/474377890/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids
My kids are older so the challenges are different. I have to make them look away from screens and do schoolwork. I’ll force them to help me get house moving stuff done too. They want an indefinite break from everything and I want a workforce. I predict compromise.
Thanks for the resources!
On topic of “it’s OK to have unstructured play”, my toddler is having none of it and only wants play options that are screens or spraying water everywhere. Sigh. He showed interest in moving bricks for our new raised garden bed, which is something that’s too heavy for him to do… If he didn’t flick sand everywhere when he digs, I’d have him doing that!
So I’m no help. But we do have paint on order for our house and I’m hopeful that will keep him entertained for an hour each day, he loves painting himself with acrylics.
First morning with kid at home and both of us at home and kid is apparently being very high maintenance today. Today will be FUN.
Current plan: In about 30 min when the sun is up (thanks daylight “savings”!) I’ll take Kiddo and maybe dog out for a walk, then give Kiddo snacks and his tablet with educational stuff and instructions to not bother us. That’s as much of a plan as we have right now.
We just made a list of activities for tomorrow. Maybe we roll a dice to decide as we go.
For reference, Duckling always stays home on Monday with me anyway. He hasn’t had any change of routine yet.
AND YET. He’s suddenly regressed his toilet training and has wet himself several times today, including poops. I’m baffled. He’s been toilet trained for 3 months (except nights). I don’t have enough nappies for this, and his cloth two-in-one nappies don’t fit any more. (Maybe the prefolds I bought large and never used will?)
Busy Toddler has been putting out a bunch of stuff for keeping kids busy, I really like her stuff and am excited for Bobbin to be old enough for it. It all has some element of set up but then the littles can kind of be unleashed on it and I like that for the most part the set up uses common household items
We made it through this much of the plan then kid kept saying a bad word and it escalated into an epic shit fit and was put into his room for time out. Mr. Meer had a video conference call as his morning meeting so Kiddo stayed in his room till that was done and then we talked and he’s currently on his tablet as per plan. DEEP BREATH Off to a great start … here’s hoping that’s the worst of it. Now to keep fiddling with the keyboard and mouse to get them to talk to my work laptop.
Just thought of this. My kid is too little so I can’t test it’s efficacy yet but I do know that it worked for 18 year old ckni and my college roommate. There were times when we’d both be working and get so stressed and we’d suddenly lock eyes across our desks in our room and start a silent dance party. We’d get up and just dance for like 3 minutes full out and then return back to our studies. Might be good for releasing pent up energy in a novel way for kids. It was kinda fun & silly to be silent
I told my kids they each have to make a goal and accomplish that goal before they get electronics each day. Also do meaningful homeschool type activity. Their poor little worlds are ending.
I know I am. I’m actively adding people with good policies to my “Buy From First” lists.
I’m trying to come up with a daily schedule that still lets Kiddo have an opinion so he’ll hopefully actually DO some of the stuff, like just leaving the damn house for an hour a day to burn off energy. Every time I suggest going for a walk he says “How about we do that tomorrow” and I’ve only got so much energy in me to fight each day so sometimes we don’t go for a walk. Sigh.
I also wanted to put some “contributing to the house” tasks, aka chores, but there’s only so much a preschooler can do. Plus right now some of the suggested chores won’t work - I don’t want him “helping” with bringing in groceries! Really this is a “nice to have” though. On the bright side he’s been very into Khan Academy Kids and Teach Your Monster to read.
How is everyone else doing?
The next available date for a click & collect grocery order is April 12. Do I just go to the store in person and be super careful? They are limiting people in the store to 50 at a time, so it won’t be crowded.
My lungs are healthy but my immune system is not. I don’t actually know how at risk I am.
