Six-steps to Stay Happy with your Family during COVID-19

Last Sunday, I was missing my maid as usual, amidst a lot of household chores which increases conspicuously on a Sunday morning. On top of it, I was cooking an elaborate meal of Punjabi chhole-bhature, a guilty pleasure we indulge in occasionally. After making the lunch as soon as I sat on the dining table along with my family, my daughter inquired, “Have you heard about Sushant Singh Rajput?” Filling my mouth with a big morsel, I answered, “Now, is his latest movie also releasing on the online platforms.” Sometime back we spoke about Amitabh Bachchan’s Gulabo-Sitabo releasing on Amazon Prime, so I assumed that she’s adding more to that conversation. But she looked at my face with disbelief and uttered, “Where have you been today?”. I retorted, “In the kitchen, where else?” After a long mysterious pause, she broke the news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide. I immediately switched on the television to confirm. The news of his untimely death was all over the news channels. The channels were sharing the gory details and social media went berserk with stories about his depression issues, leading to suicide.

This made me ponder, is depression attacking the rich and famous ones’ as well? A few months back I read that as per the Lancet Study, one in seven Indians suffer from mental disorders. This report was published in Dec 2019. If before the advent of the pandemic in India, one-seventh of our population was impacted, then we can easily imagine how the situation is now. We all have started getting news of deaths due to coronavirus of someone we knew, or someone known to our kith and kin. This continuous flow of news which is now turning from mere numbers in news channels to a reality of our lives could effortlessly turn from depressing to devastating. Even social media is completely full of the issues people are facing now with lockdowns and social distancing. The issues range from loneliness, to living in close quarters with families all the time, to work from home hassles, and so on and so forth. But the biggest fact is that it’s a tough time even for the resilient ones.

We should try to do, all the things that are possible to remain in good spirits and increase the morale of kids and old, alike. It’s a lot tougher for them. During the beginning of lockdown, I too experienced mood swings due to increased workload and my children complaining all the time. With the help of my mother and some wise friends, I devised the six-step formula to stay happy with my family, during these unprecedented times, which can impact you, as much as you allow it to. So, to reduce the overall effect, follow these simple steps and I am sure just like mine your time, if all goes well by the grace of God, could turn into a memory down the lane.

1.     Exercise and Meditate – It’s extremely important to stay healthy and fit both from your body and mind. You can spread happiness and keep your near and dear ones’ motivated, only if you feel the same way. As they say, you can only share what you have. So, 30 minutes of exercise followed by 15 minutes of meditation should be part of your daily routine. It’s better if you can do it early in the morning but if there’s an issue you can make it part of your evening schedule. It will calm you down and your calmness will have a snowballing impact passing it on to your family members. In fact, if it is possible, encourage others to follow a similar routine.

2.     Follow a proper schedule – Now due to COVID-19 a lot of people are managing their office work from home, without any support from domestic helpers. In such a scenario, we all find it challenging to maintain a proper schedule. This leads to delay in the deadlines and eventually stress, which can easily get transmitted to kids without your realizing that it’s we who are encroaching their privacy, by bringing our office home and, not the other way round. So, get up on time, stay focused, be productive during the day, and finish all the tasks by evening, to allow ample time to unwind with the family. This will make the children and elders feel loved.

3.     Stay connected with extended family and friends – The good thing which happened during the lockdown is the easy availability of platforms like, zoom and google meet which allows you to stay in touch with your loved ones, spread across the length and breadth of this globe. So, seize the opportunity to connect with your folks, and ensure that kids and elders in the family also stay connected. We, humans, are social animals and even though social distancing is forced upon us, we can never be happy and at peace, if we are left alone in our homes turned into cages. So, you must find excuses, even if its just a weekend online housie night with the whole extended family, or a gossip session with friends. At the end of it, the smile on each ones’ face will tell you that where there is a will, there is a way and no virus can take our spirits, away from us.

4.     Keep your home clean and clutter-free – A clean and clutter-free home has positive vibes whereas, if you have to walk amidst your children's toys & books and you have to see a sink-full of dirty vessels then it weighs on your mind. I know the workloads in these times are a bit too much for one individual to handle, but if you could involve the whole family, from kids to adults and, even elders in day-to-day tasks then everything becomes manageable. It will give them some distraction and loads of peace to you, filling your home with happy vibes.

5.     Cook and enjoy meals with the family – There could be no better mood enhancer than a meal made with the whole family. Even a simple meal cooked with the family has the capacity to elevate itself to the level of divinity. So, I would strongly recommend this recipe to feed the souls.

6.     Organize family games and movie nights – Don’t forget to add the daily dose of fun with the whole family. You can play board games together, just have a chit-chat session over coffee, play dumb-charades, or anything that you all enjoy together. Weekends too can be made special by organizing movie nights loaded with cold drinks, popcorns, and other snacks. You can also arrange candle-light dinners with sumptuous meals for weekends. Try to create the right ambience and start marketing it within the family, a day or two in advance to build up the mood. Make sure to live up to the expectations, or else it can easily bounce back. A little extra effort on your part can help lift the moods and they may start looking forward to the happy weekends once again.

These small little things if done well with the right tempering of love and care may help create a positive ambience in your cocoon. This will ensure that your family members remember these times in a different light. Who knows one day as grownups your kids might reminisce these days, sitting with their respective families in their living rooms, over a cup of tea and say, “Those were the COVID days.”