Staying #healthy at home – working from home, educating from home, and coming together around the dinner table more often. If you take away the electronics, the picture is similar to a couple of generations ago when families either farmed and everyone had a role, or during the depression when families had city gardens, dads worked where they could find it, and mothers kept house and raised the kids.

Since March, we’ve taken a step back in time to find the home and the family the center of our existence. Malls, entertainment centers, and sports were shut down. Restaurants were closed or had limited capacity. No place to go, we’ve settled into our homes and gotten creative with how we entertain ourselves. At first, we #binge-watched our favorite series. After our periodic parade through the kitchen for snacks, and when the meal rotation went stale, we dug out our cookbooks and tried new recipes-some worked, others didn’t. Games played and created. Our kids have dug out their bikes, skates, and skateboards and gone outside to play. The after-dinner walk has made a comeback.

We’ve found ourselves around the table more often than usual. The conversations have changed from who needs to go where, to the adventures in the yard, neighborhood, or park. Instead of running all the time, we’ve slowed down to enjoy our family, our people.
Our homes have been elevated in importance. We’ve taken advantage of not going anywhere to sort, organize, give-away, or sell our abundance of stuff. Closets, drawers, basements, and garages are organized. That ugly pink paint in the extra bedroom has been neutralized to a “pearl white.” Our yards have been mowed every week, and some planted a vegetable garden. About now they are starting to reap the harvest and feeling the satisfaction that comes from planting, watering, and shooing the squirrels away from their Heirloom tomatoes.

Homesteading, no matter when or why is all about creating a space called home and discovering the joys and challenges of family.

Tell me your #healthyathome story.
KK

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