On the plus side, after weeks of forced intimacy, one in four couples report better sex than they’ve ever had before.
And families are grower closer.
A survey of 2,000 parents in England by MumPoll found four out of five say their bond with the kids has grown stronger during this time cooped up in the house.30% say they’ve formed family book clubs and 28% have taken up gardening as a family project. They’ve even taken the old board games out of the closet and made use of the coffee table to gather around for quality family time. These are the top 10 board games of all time.
“They’re forced into getting creative, and going back to those board games and talking, and relating to their kids, and I think it’s really building relationships in the family,” says family therapist Shannon Thornton. “I think it’s wonderful.”
But it’s not all games and roses.Thornton says she’s also seeing the dark side as she checks in with clients. “One week there’s stress. One week there’s Depression. One week they’re fighting with their spouse.Because everyone has a different idea of what needs to be done, at home, with the kids, with work.” Nerves are frayed as time passes.
Thornton says it’s time to choose to focus on the positive. It’s a choice, though that’s sometimes hard to see when you’re in the thick of it.
The British survey found another bright spot: 62% of parents report pride that their kids are demonstrating community bonding, like helping neighbors with groceries, or picking up prescriptions for the elderly in the area.All those years of trying to instill values, they’re finding, is paying off.
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