Tips for Cabin Fever When You’re Stuck at Home With the Kids

Sometimes we get stuck at home for illness. Sometimes it’s due to a vehicle breakdown. And, every year, we get stuck at home during winter. I currently have 5 kids in a small, 120 year old farm house. How can I stay sane with the kids at home when we all end up feeling a bit of cabin fever?

I’ll be upfront and say that some days at home with the kids are easier than others but I have found certain things help our whole household run more smoothly. 

1. Stick to a Household Rhythm
2. Plan for Phyical Activity
3. Creative Open-ended Toys
4. Planned Screen Time
5. Daily Quiet Time
6. Positive Attitude

Bears prepare for hibernation by filling their bellies and finding a nice cave to hunker down in to sleep the months away. Beavers don’t hibernate but they do prepare for winter by gathering food and repairing their dam as they are much less active during winter. Dairy farmers prepare for winter by silaging (a form of harvesting) and covering the crop to ferment to be able to feed it through the next year, repairing cattle water heaters, and stocking up on bedding to keep the cattle warm.

What can we, as mothers, do to prepare for those seasons when we know we are stuck at home with the kids?

We homeschool so large stretches of time with my kids is something I’ve always experienced but I know that isn’t typically the case for people. I’m also an introvert so we take extra time at home just out of preference too. I still love being with my kids and, most days anyway, manage to get through without too much chaos or frustrations. So today I’m sharing some of the things that I’ve learned.

Most important thing to remember is that our kids are still just kids and don’t need us dictating and directing their every waking moment. Mystie Winkler from Simply Convivial turned me on to interval planning and taking every 7th (or so) week off from homeschooling. This doesn’t mean you take the week off from life but it does mean that you take time to set yourself up for success.

Some things that keep me sane as a mother through the winter with 5 children in 1300sqft:

Regular Routines and Rhythms

Helps keep the kids from getting bored. And helps keep us all from getting stressed out and overwhelmed with the house mess. This includes daily rhythms, housekeeping rhythms, and even food planning rhythms. Less thinking needed means more time for creativity and less time for stress. If you want some help getting started, you can pop your email address into the box below and I’ll send you a copy of our super simple morning routine. It is easy to follow for my toddler and thorough enough that even my tween and I still use it!

Physical Activity

Even though we’re stuck at home all day and the kids aren’t always able to get into the backyard to play, we don’t want to forget to take care of our bodies and minds by getting active.

I have two busy and bouncy little boys. (The older two are not quite as energetic.) A few years ago I decided to give up precious floor space to a rebounder. (tip: get a good quality one like this rebounder to minimize annoying squeaking.) It was primarily for health reasons for myself but it has been well used by my busy boys as well as numerous energetic little friends who make a beeline for it first thing when they come over to visit. Even the older boys are occasionally instructed to do 20 jumps when they start getting antsy. We have a very strict “one body at a time” safety rule and the kids (usually) take turns like champs. They count jumps, sing silly songs, and launch off into piles of blankets. It takes up a ton of floor space so sometimes we put it on its side by a wall or in front of a bookcase but it has been worth its weight in gold for this mama’s sanity. Another fun and simple way to get rid of the wiggles is to blast some music and dance. I am a pretty quiet person by nature and I don’t do well with lots of loud noises but sometimes it’s good to just turn it up and move. And even Mama can get into the groove. Make a point to dance like a total loser to see if you can entice your kids to join you or perhaps even challenge you to a dance competition. There are no rules other than to get up out of your seat and move! Okay, one rule: don’t only play little kids songs. Make sure you throw in some Smash Mouth, Bruno Mars, Abba, Bruce Sprinsteen or Panic at the Disco. Have some fun with it!

Creative and Open Ended Toys

So. Much. Lego. We started out our parenting journey with a healthy helping of the stuff from my husband’s youth but it has been a great gift suggestion for grandparents and aunts and uncles. We also have a couple Lego Ideas books and a bin of crinkled building instructions. (They used to be nicely organized in a binder but…. kids. /sigh) This isn’t just about Lego though, it is about any long-lasting creative toy. For example, we received these sets for Christmas last year and I’m continually impressed with how creative the boys can be with what seems like such simple toys. They got this set this Christmas so they’ve been getting consistent playtime, though they prefer to mix in some Lego minifigures while building.

Planned Screen Time

Scheduling it cuts down on the constant asking because the kids know that it is coming. And, if they do ask, it allows you to point at the clock and say “not yet” and you aren’t continually having to offer extra reasons or think about whether now is really a good time or not.

Find a time that consistently works for your family. For my family, we do a tidy time at about 4:30ish (they tidy all the messes they made through the day) and screens can turn on at 5pm, but only if they’re done tidying.

Then I get to make supper and do my own thing with minimal interruptions until we turn screens off and have our family supper at 6pm. A clear start time and starting requirement, a clear end time, and something to transition to has made the screen time struggle almost non-existent in our home.

Quiet time

This is often largely seen as being important for Mama and the littlest ones, but there comes a point when the older kids need a break from each other too.

After lunch, when everyone is spending their energy digesting, we have nap & quiet. The boys have learned (by me being half asleep and growling at them or shushing them) that they need to keep it down so I can rest. They often still play together during this time but try to whisper. This is not a routine that can be established overnight but it is something that is work persisting in.

And if they end up fighting, I send them to different corners of the house with a book or something until they are ready to be quiet or until I’m ready to wake up.

Positive Attitude

I am going to be honest and say that I’m not always a big fan of being stuck inside my home. Especially since I would prefer a bit more space with more than one bathroom and more corners for kids to hunker down in during quiet time. But we don’t currently have another option so I spend a lot of time thanking God for the blessing of a home that keeps us warm and dry.

An attitude of gratitude can make a world of difference in how we perceive our situation. It can be the difference between misery and joy.

I find encouragement and comfort in knowing that God understands and He is the one who is holding us in this situation. I don’t understand why but I am willing to trust His plan for us and attempt to be content in all situations.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Philippians 4:12 NIV