5 Ways to Keep Boredom Away While on Community Quarantine: Family Edition
As the lifting of the Enhanced Community Quarantine gets extended over time, I kept seeing social media posts about people getting more bored staying at home. Like TikTok isn’t fun as it used to, binge-watching on Netflix gets tiresome now and they are running out of ideas what to do anymore. I remembered seeing a former student’s Facebook status that she is so close to separating the coffee, creamer, and sugar contents of a 3-in-1 instant coffee packet of boredom.
Some friends have asked me what else they can do at home besides being on the internet all day. Well, since most of us are stuck with our families, I’m sharing some useful activities to help kill time at home with them:
1. Trace your family genealogy.
It’s interesting to note that some kids don’t even know the names of their great-great-grandparents and their origins. So I think this is the perfect time to talk about your maternal or paternal sides of the family. Where did they come from? What did they do before? Expect to hear adventure stories, wartime stories, and even juicy family scandals of the past. Who knows you might even uncover that you’re related to a Philippine hero or a descendant of local royalty. Looking back to your roots is one way of getting to know yourself better and maybe once the travel restrictions are lifted, you may want to visit your ancestral hometown and get to know more your relatives and reconnect with them.
2. Try family heirloom recipes.
Another activity worth doing is asking your parents, grandparents, or relatives to teach you how to cook heirloom recipes. Remember the mouth-watering Beef Caldereta, the family Spaghetti with a “secret ingredient sauce” or the creamy Maja Blanca that’s always present on the table during family gatherings? We all have certain dishes that left great memories tied down to our family identity. My paternal grandmother from Quezon Province makes divine old-fashioned Tagalog recipes and honestly, I am excited to learn how to cook them. The idea of preserving your traditional family recipes and letting the future generation have a taste of them is something worthwhile.
3. Unearth family photos and write captions for them.
One of the things that we love to do is take gazillions of photos and that is evidenced by the volumes of photo albums we have at home. I recalled seeing a photo album kept by an aunt and she would painstakingly print out small captions on paper and put them on every photograph. At a glance, I thought it’s too bothersome to do but later on, I realized that she made perfect sense. Memories fade over time that’s why photos and captions must come together.
So my suggestion is to get the photo albums out and know the stories behind such photos — ask where they were taken, who were the people in it, what occasion was it? It’s a wonderful way of getting to know your parents and your family as a whole or even take a walk down memory lane. And while you’re at it, digitally store them too! With that, you can take your family photos with you anywhere, anytime!
4. Learn about family ghost stories.
Every Filipino family has its fair share of ghost stories, trust me. From encounters with a White Lady down a deserted road on a moonlit night or hearing disembodied voices while alone in an old office to meeting scary creatures such as the shapeshifting Aswang or a playful nature spirit. Experiences like this transcend time and as spiritual people, we do have a reverence for such stories.
Some may not believe such accounts but for others, it was quite a revelation that allowed them to make sense of things. I had a former student who had encounters of seeing entities only to find out from a ghost storytelling session with his family that a great-grandparent was actually a manambalan (traditional healer). That fact made him embrace his “gift” and it became a sort of confirmation that he wasn’t going bonkers.
5. Check out family heirlooms and their backstories.
Ever wondered who originally owned the chipped Ming vase at the living room or that piece of old jewelry passed down from mother to daughter? Well, this is your chance to talk about family treasures. But don’t just limit yourself with the valuables, ask about the old charcoal-powered clothes iron your mom stashed in the cabinet, the old bolo that dad got from his grandfather or the items stored in that wooden baul (trunk) that Lola owned. Part of learning one’s family history also lies in the trivial things we own which we may have taken for granted but holds significance.
Bonus activity: Fix broken bridges in the family and sort out family feuds.
Since we have so much time and are forced to stay in one place, why not take this opportunity to mend relationships within the family? I know it’s easier said than done but it’s also during this time that we can see how fragile life can be.
When I was still working as a ward nurse, one of the things I often hear when a patient dies is how the loved ones lament they weren’t able to make up with their father or mother or siblings. Some felt sorry that they didn’t even say “I love you” or “I forgive you” when they still had the time… and time is what you have now. Of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect family but at the end of the day, we will always come back to our roots.
