Coffee, Podcasts, and Family Walks – Pandemic Life Family Rituals!
Family rituals and routines are powerful tools.
Routines and rituals are an essential part of family life. They create predictability and security. They provide comfort and connection. They give us familiar structure for our days, for our transitions.
With so much uncertainty and upended routines, finding family rituals and routines to anchor and connect you during these times is a powerful tool.
We struggled during the early weeks of the pandemic because it was hard, but also because our routines were completely upended. A few weeks into stay at home orders, I realized we’d stopped some important rituals that I really needed to show up as a good parent.
So, we reclaimed those rituals and routines. We started some new family rituals specific to pandemic life. We figured out the things we couldn’t let go in the chaos or we were adding to our own struggles.
Here are a few of our family routines and rituals.
I’ve found the way I start my day has a huge impact on how patient, regulated, and capable I feel through out the day. For years, my husband and I have had breakfast and coffee before our kids woke up as a time to talk and connect. Since we bedshare, this has often met bringing a still sleeping baby or young toddler who we haven’t felt safe leaving alone in our bed down to sleep the last little bit in my lap. Luckily for us, this has worked with both our kids.
This time of quiet to drink my coffee and talk with my husband is essential for me. We lost track of this time in the early days of the pandemic as our whole schedule shifted. Starting the day with two kids being loud, jumping around, and asking for this and that did not work! So, we started our morning coffee and breakfast back up and the return to a calmer, more connected morning made a difference.
Family walks organically became a new pandemic ritual for us. We started out knowing that we needed to get everyone outside every day for everyone’s sanity. We needed ways to get kids energy out. We needed to spend some time together as a family, rather than just bouncing the kids between my husband and me as we struggled to be minimally productive.
We started taking a morning walk, often stopping by our favorite neighborhood coffee shop, Peregrine Espresso, who does both excellent coffee and excellent curbside, minimal contact coffee ordering. As the weeks went by, we realized how important this time was becoming. It’s now an important part of our day.
Mini podcast dates are a surprising new ritual for my husband and I. He loves podcasts. I like some, but usually not the ones my husband likes. We were looking for something to do together that was easy to fit in to make sure we were pausing together to connect. Mostly we don’t enjoy a lot of the same kinds of entertainment though.
Somehow, we stumbled on 2 short podcasts that we both enjoy. Short is definitely part of the key here, as 10-15 minutes seems manageable and leaves us with time to talk about what we heard. We now include an NPR morning news podcast with our coffee and a political history podcast over a glass of wine.
Do you have any old or new family routines and rituals that have helped you through pandemic times? I’d love to hear.
Reach out if you want support in managing the stress and chaos of sleep during pandemic life.
Schedule a free family sleep intro call here:
https://intuitiveparentingdc.com/getting-started
Peregrine Espresso - peregrineespresso.com
NPR Up First Podcast - www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up-first
This Day in Esoteric History Podcast - www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/thisday