Ask Motherly: Do you have any quarantine date night ideas?

Like you, Motherly's co-founders have also spent the last several months with their spouses 24/7...but they still have *seriously* good ideas for at-home date night.

Ask Motherly: Do you have any quarantine date night ideas?


Do you have any quarantine date night ideas?

Remember when you could just go out to dinner and a movie without wondering if you were about to expose yourself to a fast-spreading virus? Those were the days—Quarantine has us feeling really stir crazy, dreaming of date nights gone by.

A small silver lining: Quarantine has given many of us a chance to focus on our families and reconnect with our loved ones in simple ways we may have previously overlooked, from backyard picnics to walks around the block to crushing through our Netflix watch lists.

As we settle in to long fall and winter nights, there's a whole new set of ways to do date night at home. Here's a few we absolutely love.

Adult coloring book or puzzle together.

Put on some good tunes on Spotify, grab a favorite beverage (we're fans of brewing our own at-home Kombucha which you can do with this awesome kit), and settle in for an evening of acting like kids together. There's nothing more comforting than losing yourself, together, in a hobby that gets you out of your own head. The Motherly Shop customers are obsessed with our beautiful Inner Piece puzzle (that doubles as art), and my husband is digging all things coloring books, like this great find.


Kombucha Making Kit


Inner Piece

Puzzle Art


Cook something new together.

Making dinner doesn't have to be drudgery. Tuck the kids in bed, pop some bubbly, light a candle and get cooking together. From vegan-friendly meal kits that taste like the best gourmet food you've ever had (I'm in love with Purple Carrot meals) to homemade pretzels or a fresh Italian cheesemaking kit, grab a set to make it easy for you to nail adult mealtime. We've loved date nights in the kitchen trying something new. And if you want to go all out, you can take a Master Class together and learn some new culinary techniques while you're at it. Alice Waters, considered a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement, teaches a class that is particularly soothing and fun for date night. (See other Master Class cooking classes here.)


Pretzel Making Kit



Fresh Cheese Making Kit


Go deep with conversation.

We recently picked up a new couples conversation starter deck, and whoa, have we had some deep, revelatory convos with our spouses. This Couples Edition conversation deck taught us things about our spouses we didn't know even after a decade together. Think you know your partner? Grab a deck and be prepared to laugh, cry and learn.


Remember how before kids you used to be able to sneak away to the bedroom (or the couch) any time you both felt like it? While parenthood can make sexytime more logistically challenging, we're loving how being at home more during quarantine gives us more time to just be together, naked, with our spouses. Try heading up to bed earlier than usual and give yourself permission to be together, as adults (not parents) for an hour or two. And try adding something new to the mix, like soaking in a bath together, or a new, easy-to-dispense lube like this one from Maude.


Bath Soak Infusion Kit





Happy dating!

Jill + Liz

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They transition seamlessly for indoor play.




Secret Agent play set




Mini golf set

Plan Toys mini golf set



Stepping Stones




Wooden doll stroller

Janod wooden doll stroller



Sand play set

Plan Toys sand set



Sensory play set




Vintage scooter balance bike

Janod retro scooter balance bike



Foam pogo stick








Hopper ball

Hopper ball



Pull-along ducks




Rocking chair seesaw




Baby forest fox ride-on

janod toys baby fox ride on



Meadow ring toss game

Plan Toys meadow ring toss game





The ultimate back-to-school shopping list for busy moms

Use this list to prep for the best first day ever!

CasarsaGuru / Getty



Loose Leaf Paper



Personal Planner



#2 Pencils



Black Ink Pens



Highlighters in Different Colors



Big Pink Erasers



New Headphones



Lined Notebooks



Three-Ring Binders



Locker Decorations



New Lunch Box



Upgraded Backpack



Colorful Markers



Reusable Water Bottle





Back to School Landing

This is the biggest indicator of a kid’s happiness, according to recent survey

Getting enough sleep made children twice as likely to report feeling happy lots of the time.

Most parents know that sleep is important for children's wellbeing. Adults, and parents in particular, generally value sleep and know too well the way it affects our own emotional wellbeing when we don't get enough sleep. But how important is sleep to your child's happiness?

The 2017 BTN Happiness Survey conducted by the University of Melbourne and Behind the News TV program involved 47,000 Australian children. It found that sleep was the biggest indicator of happiness—getting enough sleep made children twice as likely to report feeling happy lots of the time.

“These results provide compelling evidence that sleep is a key indicator of child wellbeing," said Associate Professor Lisa Gibbs, the Chair of The University of Melbourne Children's Lives Initiative, in an interview with ABC News.

Before you start getting anxious about whether your child gets the prescribed amount of sleep for their age, it's important to remember that children who sleep well tend to feel safe and secure. In the survey results, children who did not feel safe were four times more likely to have atypical sleep patterns, meaning they slept too much or too little for their age group.

While the survey shows the importance of improving your child's sleep habits for their emotional wellbeing, it also continues to highlight the role of feeling safe and secure on general wellbeing. Helping children with anxiety, stress and trauma is important.

The survey also found a range of things help children feel happy including family, friends, music and sports. Younger children were significantly more likely to report that family, reading and artwork were sources of happiness. Cooking and being in nature were also linked to feeling happy for girls. Boys were significantly more likely to report sports and computer games helped them feel happy. Pets were also identified by many children in all age groups and gender as a source of happiness.

So, what can you do to improve your child's sleep?

These are the tips I recommend in my clinical psychology practice that are based on the psychology of sleep and children's developmental needs:

1. Provide a safe and secure relationship with your child

Children who feel safe and secure generally have a good emotional bond with their parents. Find ways in each day to connect with your child. Spend time doing things with them and really noticing them. Repair ruptures that happen between you and your child as quickly as possible. Many a child has worried at night that their parent blames them for everything or doesn't like them anymore.

2. Have a regular bedtime routine that supports good sleep habits

Set bedtimes that are consistent with the amount of sleep your child needs help. Developing routines that prime children for bedtime helps too.

For example children might know that every night after dinner they brush their teeth, play a game, and then have a story read with their parent prior to being tucked in to bed. These routines provide a sense of predictability which encourages a sense of safety and reduces children's anxiety about bedtime.

3. Ensure your child gets enough physical activity 

Moving your body is a helpful tool in encouraging sleep. It helps use up physical energy, but is also positively associated with the brain chemistry people need to manage stress and anxiety and sleep well. Most schools have some daily exercise program but children may need more than what is provided.

4. Reduce exposure to technology two hours before bed

In this every increasing technological world it is not uncommon that children spend significant amounts of time looking at screens. The portability of these devices means they often find their way into bedrooms. Screens emit blue light which can prevent production of melatonin. Melatonin production is necessary for falling asleep at the right time. By preventing access in the two hours before bed your child is more likely to go to sleep at the right time.

5. Remove electronic devices, such as iPads, from your child's room at night

Many electronic devices emit noises and have notifications that can occur at all times through the night and can wake your child up. Electronic devices are very tempting for children and many a sleepless child has been found on a device at night. When your child is exposed to blue light from these devices, it signals its daytime to your child's brain and is not conducive with going back to sleep.

6. Ensure anxiety and past trauma are treated

If your child is not sleeping due to anxiety or past trauma, seek treatment. Make contact with your doctor or community agency to work out what your child needs. Professional and specialized mental health help is best.

Raising a happy child comes down to a combination of factors. Good sleep is just one of them.

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