This is a collaborative post: Lockdown number two is now in full swing, with shops and pubs closed and meeting anywhere indoors with friends and family forbidden. This has had a huge impact on families who don’t live together, and from personal experience it is particularly hard for children whose grandparents can’t see them on their birthday.
It is possible to meet outside on a one-to-one basis but unfortunately the weather is nowhere near as good as it was during the summer and it’s really difficult if family live too far away to risk inclement weather ruining plans.
But even though you can’t see grandparents face to face, it doesn’t mean you can’t be thinking about them.
Here are some ways to keep in touch:
1. Write letters
Although most of the world is connected by the internet these days, the older generations are the least likely to have access to Facetime and social networking. They’re also the people who are most at risk from the virus and and therefore are advised against social contact.
Ensure that you have plenty of stamps and envelopes and get writing! Get your children to tell them them about their day, invent a story or draw a picture or two.
Not only will it mean that your kids will be kept amused (and writing is obviously a good skill to keep practising), but you’ll brighten up someone’s day too!
2. Put them in the picture
Grandparents have missed out on a lot this year and there won’t have been the regular photo opportunities so what could be nicer than a picture of them with their grandchildren?
Using a tool like PhotoWorks it’s possible to add in family members to an existing picture quickly and easily, without expensive computer programs like Photoshop which are difficult to use.
3. Put on a show
My two love dressing up and ‘acting’, however I must say, my excitement for these shows has waned somewhat over the years… but somehow their grandparents can always appear enthusiastic.
Set up the camera and get them to do an all-singing, all-dancing show over Facetime or Skype, meanwhile busy yourself somewhere else.
4. Read a story remotely
If they don’t like dancing and acting, then reading a book to their grandparents over Facetime gets you off the hook for a little while. There are only so many times you can hear Biff and Chip, and it seems that grandparents have infinite patience.
My kids spent some of the previous lockdown reading to their one year old cousin, which is just about the cutest thing ever AND I get a cup of tea in peace.
Or take it a step further and get them to read a story they’ve written themselves; my daughter is loving her Imagidice at the moment.
5. Make a gift
Kids love to create things and it is a great way to keep them amused.
We’ve recently been sent a big box of kids’ crafts by Baker Ross and not only are they easy to do (requiring minimal parental input) but because they’re all self-contained in packs there isn’t too much mess involved.
Each pack has lasted the kids about half an hour or more so it’s a nice thing for them to do when stuck indoors and you need a little break.
However, arts and crafts are all well and good… but what do you do with them once you’re finished?
Send them to the grandparents in the post, of course! They can proudly display them, or perhaps file them away in the bin, but the key thing is that they won’t be cluttering up your own house.
6. Bake something
How to follow any recipe is a life skill that you can teach your children, and I’m willing to bet that will be much more useful to them in the future than a lot of the things they’ll eventually learn in school.
Either put grandma on Facetime and bake together following instructions, or make something as a gift to send.
I have a really simple recipe for cheesy biscuits here which we make fairly often. If you have an old Pringles tube you can wrap them carefully and send them through the post to show your relatives that you’re thinking about them.
