Are you stuck staying home and inside? Social distancing can mean some much needed downtime for some but when you are home with your kids, it means some careful planning is necessary to keep everyone, well, sane. Here are a few tips to Keep Your Family Healthy During Social Distancing.

1.) Get in some exercise everyday. Exercise is so important for our body and our minds. It is even more important now to support our immune systems and keep everyone from going stir crazy. Of course I have amazing online classes for adults but I also highly recommend these online resources for keeping your kids active:

• Cosmic Kids Yoga– This is a free resources on YouTube and I looooove it! The stories are great, the backgrounds engaging and it really does teach basic yoga to kids.
• Les Mills Born to Move– I actually think these classes are really fun and it is so great that they break it up by age group. There are short clips on YouTube but you can also pay for a longer class (20 minutes per age group) on their website.
• My First Book of Pilates– We have this book and use it all the time. The kids absolutely love it and the moves are fun with cute pictures and stories.
• Obstacle Course- Just setting up a little obstacle course in the house is really effective for keeping the kids busy and occupied. Here’s what you need to make a great indoor obstacle course: a tunnel, kids mini tramp, balance stepping stones, some balls to throw or kick (soft ones are best) and some tape to make things like hopscotch or lines to jump over, run to etc. Or if you aren’t the DIY person, check out this indoor obstacle course ready made.
• Keep them moving! Check out my guide for the best products to keep your kids fit!

2.) Plan a healthy menu. A healthy menu is essential to keeping your family healthy and to avoid many trips to the grocery store you need to plan in advance. Looking for healthy meal ideas for the family? I recommend Clean Eating for Busy Families, the Healthy Family Cookbook and the Clean Eating with Kids website.

3.) Take meditation breaks. Ok so I have a 1 1/2 year old so I know the idea of meditation is laughable to some people but honestly it helps. Again Cosmic Kids has some amazing meditation videos for little ones. I also just use my Apple Watch. When it automatically tells me to breathe, I get the kids involved too. We all breathe together for 1 minute and we all feel much calmer afterwards!

4.) Get social- at a distance. Break out Facetime or Skype to connect with family and friends. It is a great way to beat isolation and check in with loved ones (like grandparents) when you can’t physically get together.

5.) Get outside. Remember that social distancing doesn’t mean you have to stay inside the entire time. In fact, getting outside is so important to staying healthy. A little fresh air will do everyone some good. Fun things to do include: playing with chalk, riding bikes, kicking the ball around or just running around and playing tag or duck duck goose.

I hope these strategies on how to keep your family healthy while social distancing are helpful! Good luck and stay healthy!