Here are some Stay-at-Home NYC Mommy Survival Tips. We’ve now been in our NYC apartment for 14 straight days, although we luckily have a small balcony for fresh air.

Overall, we’re lucky. We’re healthy and we just have to stay inside to help flatten the curve. I worry for the medical personnel, the postal workers, the grocery workers, the warehouse workers, the delivery workers and all the rest who are out there working as heroes.

List of Stay-At-Home NYC Mommy Survival Tips

• Exercise
• Keep a Schedule
• Art and Virtual Tours
• Food
• Reading/Watching Movies
• Crafting and Making Masks
• Keep Social
• Keep washing hands

If you have any suggestions, please share!

Exercise

Exercise is important for your immune system and your sanity. I haven’t done enough, but I will keep trying.

For Kids:

Create Your Own Obstacle Course: This has been the most successful exercise activity to date. My kids and I each take turns creating an obstacle course throughout the house and then we each follow each other doing it. We run around chairs, climb onto chairs, run around a table, crawl under a table, jump over stuffed animals etc. (Luckily, our neighbors are very nice and have not complained about the amount of extra noise as we jump around.)

It definitely gets the heart rate up and adds a little extra fun.

GoNoodle and PE with Joe Wicks: We’ve also been doing some dance videos from GoNoodle and P.E. with Joe Wicks.

For Moms/Dads:

I am trying out Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s trainer’s workout book. My friend gave it to me last year.

Another friend recommended this site for Yoga: Dharma Yoga New York Center.

Keep A Schedule

I think that it helps the kids to have a schedule. So we have our homeschooling schedule, and to that we’ve added Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems, Exercise and Duolingo (they are trying to learn Danish).

Art

I still highly recommend Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems. He’s very therapeutic to watch.

And he gives writing advice.

Here is my doodle from Episode 3.

This New York Times article also lists other authors/artists giving programs, so I am excited to try some of those.

Virtual Art Tours: I’m excited to go on some virtual art museum tours and other virtual tours.

TAKE VIRTUAL TOURS The J. Paul Getty Museum The Hermitage Museum of Miniatures (Carmel, IN) The Louvre The Sistine Chapel Rijksmuseum Listen to commentary about the dollhouse at Rijksmuseum The Guggenheim Yosemite National Park Van Gogh Museum Great Wall of China Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Yellowstone National Park Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) British Museum Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home) Cliffe Castle The Uffizi Gallery Westminster Abbey and a list of 1,200 more museums to explore

Food

I made a shopping list of all our usual food so that when I find a delivery slot open, I can check the list and order from it, otherwise I keep forgetting items. I do spend a lot of time looking for open delivery slots.

A HUGE thanks to all the grocery workers and delivery people.

Bread: This is also a great recipe for whole wheat bread from Minimalist Baker. I can’t find yeast available anymore (and flour is also hard to find), but I have some packs left and maybe by the time I use them up, yeast will be back in stock.

Books/Movies

I am so grateful for all the books that I can escape into. I may actually make some progress on my #TBR pile. And I’m also watching movies at night, rather than always reading the news.

Crafting and Making Masks

I like to craft to keep up my spirits and so I’ve been doing some crafting, in between home schooling, reading and writing.

I found some patterns/tutorials for making masks, so I think I will try to do that too, although I am not very good at sewing and haven’t yet learned to use a sewing machine. It’s been on my bucket list, so I will check out some Youtube videos and learn to do it. I have a tiny kid sewing machine. It’s a Home EC project for the kids too! At the least, my family can wear my attempts, and hopefully, the shortage of PPE will be addressed. If I get good at making them, then I can send them to a hospital.

Keep Social

I am using this time to catch up with friends, so I hope you do too. Try to reach out to a friend every day or other day. My kids are doing zoom/facetime chats with their friends and that makes them happy.

Let’s Talk about Your Stay-At-Home Mommy Survival Tips

Do you have any tips for staying-at-home (with or without kids)? Any suggestions for laugh-out-loud romcom books?

Also, please keep washing your hands (and not touching your face). But it seems to transmit from when you touch someone or something with the virus and then you touch your face, so wash your hands before you touch your face. Which is so hard for me. As soon as I can’t touch my face, something on my face itches. Even writing this, I have an itch on my eyelid. And obviously practice social distancing and stay home as much as you can.

And if you’re not in an area that is yet in lockdown, I recommend stocking up on pantry staples (like flour, pasta etc.) and kids art supplies. You can get kids art supplies delivered, but you want to minimize people delivering (for their sake and yours).

Wishing you all the best!