January is a great time for self-care. First, it’s a good time to examine thoughts and habits that no longer serve you. Second, cold and snow and viruses are powerful incentives to stay home and do something cozy. How to make self-care fun for the family? Turn it into a low-risk, high-reward adventure with resources from Wilmette Public Library.
Kitchen adventures are a good bet, because mistakes make great stories and even the ugliest concoctions are often tasty. For example...
Totally Awesome Ultimate Kids Cookbook by Tiffany Dale teaches skills the easy way: by offering up simple recipes for healthy meals kids will want to eat.
Baking Wonderland by Jean Parker feeds the soul with recipes for cookies, muffins, and cupcakes, and with the no-bake frostings that cover them.
Mindfulness activities may sound boring, but call them crafts and you’ve got a whole new ballgame. Some crafts are mindfulness exercises in disguise, and they yield products that offer instant reminders of good times. For example...
Craft with Recycling by Grace Lucima/McQuillan encourages open eyes and makes it easy to turn trash into treasure.
Easy Origami for Kids by Ishibashi Naoko’s rewards attention to detail with the potential for an entire menagerie at your family’s fingertips.
Move it! When you’re feeling a little stir-crazy, homemade Karaoke sessions get the whole household in sync, and when you need to wind down, try yoga for kids—which is the same thing as yoga for adults, but with a dash of imagination. Don’t just do the cobra, be the cobra. And then the downward dog. For example...
Yoga Animals Paige Towler offers what “a wild introduction to kid-friendly poses.”
Whatever brings you joy, do that to launch your new year! Anything that brings more joy into the world is a thing worth doing.