The Cure for Kiddie Cabin Fever
I love the idea of winter as much as the next basic, skinny vanilla latte-loving, oversized sweater-wearing Midwest girl. However, just like my Pinterest attempts, the white winter of my dreams is often much more beautiful in my mind than it is in reality. When you throw kids in the wintry mix, things get even more dicey. While my daughter sees the winter wonderland as her own personal gift from Elsa, I see the many hours we will have to spend inside with no fresh air, little sunshine, and a lack of connection to nature. To somehow reconnect with the outdoors during the long winter season my littles and I:
1. Grow plants indoors! This winter my family has grown spices in mason jars, in addition to growing indoor flowers. Not only does a little indoor gardening give my oldest daughter a sense of purpose and responsibility, but she is also able to make our house a little more beautiful and our food more tasty!
2. Go outside! If it’s sunny, we are outside- even if just for 15 minutes. We do the standard 40 minutes of getting layered in warm clothes to play outside for half of that time. But it’s always worth it, and it makes that hot chocolate at the end a little sweeter.
3. Have a bird feeder! Although a lot of animals seem to go away for the winter, there are still a lot of birds hanging around outside. Our Mr. Canary Bird and Breakfast makes it quick and easy to continue our bird feeding into the winter months with just the slide of a tray.
So, although I’m ready to tell Elsa to let it go by February, I can still get my daily dose of nature in until Olaf brings on the summer!
Author: Kelsey O'Dell
Published: February 11, 2020
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