Winter blew through this morning in DC and got me thinking about getting ready for the inevitable snow day or sick day. The skills needed to get through, nay enjoy, a snow day are found in both our parenting and organizing buckets.
1. Emotion Management: Kids will be thrilled, parents might be devastated when the snow day is called. Being the CEO in da house, it's our job to chill and not convince kids the minute they wake up that it's the perfect time to write thank you notes, tidy up legos, get a leg up on SAT studying or clear the dishwasher. Let them have their moment, even if you aren't feeling it. (This might just be me, I hear there are parents out there that LOVE to stay in their jammies all day and thoroughly enjoy a day off, if you are one of them, stop reading now and go enjoy! Or better yet, write a comment to advise us high strung parents on how to love it!).
2. A Little of This, a Little of That: Instead of chucking all order on snow days (or sick days), loosely order your day. Have a media hour (or two), have a quiet hour (or two), have an outside hour (or two), have a house hold tidy up (or de-clutter, or help cook) 20 minutes (do this three times and you get to your one hour). Loosey goosey structure is the name of the game, not no goosey structure.
3. If you have little ones you can make cookies or play dough, here's a recipe! Let them make a fort, consider letting them keep it up longer then one day. Also, be sure fort deconstruction is part of fort making. Good life lesson - if you get it out, you have to put it away.
4. Outside, outside, outside: Everyone should definitely get outside, we need the vitamin D, if it takes 45 minutes to locate both mittens, find the hats, try on the snow pants, and then you are outside for only 10 minutes. . . it's worth it. It's almost ALWAYS worth it to go outside and get some fresh air and natural light.
5. BEFORE you go outside: get your beach towels you aren't using (because it's winter) and lay them all over the front hallway. That way when you come in happy and rosy cheeked your house will be ready to receive all the snowy shoes and boots and mittens without you tip toeing and yelling and doing gymnastics to avoid wetness on the floor.