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5 Ways People Around The World Are Making Strangers Smile During Isolation – And How You Can Do Too

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During the coronavirus mandatory isolation requirements, levels of depression, anxiety, stress, unusual sleep patterns, and even high blood pressure have all been found to increase among everyday citizens.

Keeping yourself busy seems to be the easiest way to get rid of stress and unhappy thoughts. So why not try your best to make someone else happy – while still obeying social distancing laws?

These uncertain times are taking a toll on everyone, especially health care and law enforcement workers. Not only can the following ideas help strangers in social isolation, it can also relieve a bit of the stress on health care workers by putting a smile on their face – without leaving your property, coming within 1.5m of anyone, or costing you anything.

Ordinary citizens are taking initiatives and so the trend of spreading positive energy during these trying times is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. So let’s all add to it, to do our part in making the world a better place.

  1. Chalk Art

Whip out some chalk and write a positive message on your driveway or the sidewalk so that strangers can see it, like this artist from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, reported on the ABC news Australia.

You can make your own sidewalk chalk too using this simple recipe.

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2. Painted rocks

Find some rocks in your garden and paint designs or short messages on them and leave them around the neighbourhood, like these kids in Santa Clarita, California, United States, reported in the LA Times.

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3. Door Frame Decoration

Cut out paper letters to make a positive message to stick on your door, like this family in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, reported in the CTV news.

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4. Window Messages

Write or draw something positive on a large sheet of paper and stick in your window, like these kids in Brooklyn, New York, United States, reported on the ABC News.

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5. Lawn Posters

Grab some poster board and craft up a note of appreciation to health care workers to put in your lawn, like this family in Nolensville, Tennessee, United States, reported in the ABC news.

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Do you have a way to show some positivity around the neighbourhood that wasn’t in this article? Share it with us in the comments!

Check out this tutorial for making fluffy sidewalk chalk paint

Read These Next

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Reflecting on the Past Year with Kids

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

  • Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
  • NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
  • Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
  • The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]