Covid-19 pandemic, global lockdown, closed schools, Janta curfew, 400K infected, 14K deaths… news have been second only to our breath since a few weeks now. Most people are troubled on two fronts – panicking because they may themselves catch the virus, and clueless as to what they would otherwise do at home in this lockdown?

But people who are now forced to work from home can also make use of the extra time they have now due to lockdown. We’ve been always complaining that we don’t have enough time for our new year’s resolutions… Well, escape no more.  Here is the time 😉

The first thing you may want to do is to stop continuously watching those videos circulating on social media and stop updating yourself on the news every minute. You can watch news to keep yourself updated once in a day.

I was also a part of the Whatsapp news mania until today. Now I have decided to break free.

With so much negative energy around how can one focus on positive, and unless you focus, how will you get rid of the negative? So what should one do to break this spiral?

I frankly don’t see this whole lockdown settling for another 3-5 weeks. Routines aren’t really bad and have always been very important to me. Have you ever wondered what would happen if the sun does not decide to follow its routine?

I find this as an excellent opportunity to teach our kids the importance of routine, sharing chores at home and learning new ways to keep oneself entertained.

So here’s a list of things that we have compiled to put in our timetable for lockdown:

Morning meditation and Sanskrit reading with kids.

I have started teaching my kids how to read Bhagvad Geeta, Shankar Rudri and Nirvana Shatakam of Shankaracharya. If you don’t know Sanskrit it’s an excellent time to look up videos online and learn with your kids. Why Sanskrit? It’s a royal language – rich in literature and thoughts. It will also help you with diction in other languages. I like to call it the Diction Exercise.

Practice Math with kids; go about creative writing sessions.

Ask them to write their diaries.

Now with the lockdown there is no domestic help so we have distributed the household chores among family members – laundry, drying clothes, folding clothes, sweeping, mopping, cleaning utensils etc. So everyone has a task to do, including kids. Believe me kids can do it all. All you need to do is instruct and guide them. Most importantly control your OCD. LOL

Involve the whole family in cooking. You might just come up with bizarre delicious recipes.

Reading books together. We as a family are all voracious readers.

We decided to add the old tradition of afternoon siesta :). Afternoon time could also be utilised by girls for their home remedies and beauty routines, and at times, surfing online or watching TV.

Engage in some craft, origami or lego. There are many online tools for the same. Some of us have stopped drawing and painting. Pick up that brush.

Board games.

Play and practice musical instruments. My kids play piano, so they can improve with practice. We have family singing sessions. Just play antakshari if nothing is striking you.

Start an online learning course and dedicate an hour to it. We learn and practice French.

Video call all friends and family. When talking on phone keep standing or walking. Don’t keep sitting all day. You might escape Covid-19 only to realise other health issues for long sedentary hours.

Since there is limited physical activity it’s extremely important to keep those happy hormones going. So I have decided to make my family dance, yes all of ‘em – and not just on my tunes. You will soon see a choreographed dance coming from me. You may just put on the music and start dancing. Keep an hour for that.

It’s a super time to introduce kids and yourself to Pranayam. This will take away all financial stress that you might be facing due to lockdown. We do Anulom vilom, Kapalbhati and Brahmari pranayama. A simple focus on inhalation and exhalation can also do wonders. Just learn to sit with your eyes closed and let the thoughts flow.

Late evenings can be spent chilling with family watching movies, looking up old photos and reliving memories of past trips and events, or just idle chatting on phone.

Every night before sleeping, fix a time for chanting for the greater good of the world. The world needs it. Now is the time! Teach kids to pray selflessly for others. Our future generations are even more at risk of such disasters. Much to my kids’ dismay, they have to chant everyday with me. If you are an atheist, you can just meditate and send positive thoughts out.

Introduce the exercise of gratitude. Everyone in the family should sit together and name one thing that they have been grateful today. Teach kids to be positive, to focus on small things that they have otherwise taken granted for.

Well with so much to do, is there any time to get bored? Nah!

Not for the Shahs 🙂

Let me know if you have any other ideas to add. We are always learning.