How to survive (hotel) quarantine with kids – Taiwan edition
Having to quarantine for 14 days can be intimidating, wondering what you will be doing all that time sitting in a hotel room. Having to enter quarantine with kids is probably taking it to the next level and might even make you more nervous. But let me tell you that it is feasible and can even be fun with a little bit of preparation and a positive attitude. Plus you get lots of family time spent together!
Here is how we survived 14 days of hotel quarantine with two kids 1.5 and 3.5 years old in Taiwan, including tried-and-tested tips, tricks and ideas. Besides there is much you can do before entering quarantine to gather information, prepare and get yourselves ready to not only survive, but thrive in quarantine.
Gathering information for quarantine in Taiwan
The quarantine rules are ever changing to reflect the current situation inside and especially outside of Taiwan. So staying on top of the most recent regulations will be key to avoid any surprises. Join the Facebook group “Quarantine Support in Taiwan” to find recent updates from fellow travellers, updates on quarantine measures and last but not least support from fellow quarantine people. Also, check out the official site from the CDC (Taiwan Centers for Disease Controll) in English.
Preparation is key to survive quarantine – especially with kids
I am not going to lie, the prospect of quarantining for 14 days with my very active kids left me nervous and had me panic buying supplies – snacks, crafts and some new toys. We were able to have two boxes delivered at our quarantine hotel upon our arrival, so we could go all in on the snacks and activities / toys.
Try to get information on what your hotel will provide and whether you are allowed to have delivers from family / friends and any (food) delivery services. Top up with what you might need. Think cutlery, knife and cutting board, dish soap and towels, cleaning products, basic first aid kit, prescription medication, snacks and treats, exercise equipment, a plug to connect your device to the TV, …
For the kids: Think all the gear to do arts & crafts, stickers, crayons, paper, favourite toys and some new ones even, balloons, books, activity books, puzzles, board games and whatever else would work for your kids.
Lots of ideas for lists can be found in the “Quarantine Support in Taiwan” group, and also here…
When in quarantine with kids
For the better or the worst, we found that while kids need to be entertained, they also entertain you. While thinking about what you could possibly do with them, you have less time to think about the fact that you are actually confined to a small space for 14 days.
There might also be requirements that must be done, maybe school is on and classes need to be attended online, parents might need to work or there might not be any “must do’s” at all.
In any case we found it important to hold on tight to certain aspects to make the situation livable over the 14 days, like maintaining a schedule, staying positive, being relaxed about certain things and staying flexible to adapt to the general mood.
1. Maintain a schedule
First and foremost we maintained a schedule and tried to keep up with our usual routines as much as possible, at least for bed times and meal times, as well as having certain activities (high energy activities, quiet time, playing) at similar times each day. Kids need routines to feel safe and comfortable and it helps you a great deal too, as it gives you something to focus on and work with. If you are able to stay in the same room with your partner, plan for some alone time for you and your partner and have each of you spend alone time with the kids. It helps a great deal with your own sanity and I promise the kids will enjoy the “rotation” in parents very much too!
Loosely our schedule looked like the following:
- Waking up
- Reading books or play while waiting for breakfast
- Breakfast
- Cleaning up and getting dressed, brush teeth
- Crafting / drawing
- Snack time
- Some more playing and adding a physical activity like dancing, exercise, running around, hide and seek, bathing and the likes: Dance along by Cocomelon; Yoga – Cosmic kids; Katie moves Taipei – Online classes & prerecorded session
- Lunch time
- Quiet time (Reading books, puzzles or watching some tv – educational episodes)
- Daddy time – playing (Our dad had to work at least half days, so we rotated for some down time for mom, usually in the afternoon)
- Dinner
- Cleaning up and getting ready for bed
- Reading books and waiting for the garbage truck (Call us a bit crazy, but we were lucky to have a garbage truck stopping at the corner opposite of our hotel window and it made for a perfect closing of the day, right before bed time. We all need a little excitement and why not getting excited about a garbage truck – Especially since they come with music in Taiwan
- Bed time
2. Have designated spaces
We were lucky enough to be able to get 2 connecting rooms for our family of 4. Meaning that we could also physically separate during the day and at night. Regardless of your situation, try to have designated areas for eating, playing, relaxing, sleeping. Like your daily routines, this will also help you to change your setting and feel like you can be in different spaces depending on your activity throughout the day
3. Quiet times / active times
Think of activities that your kids enjoy, both active and quiet play opportunities. It is important to manage their energy levels, to get them and yourself moving, but also wind down later in the day. Go with the flow and suggest an activity that will take advantage of their current mood all the while keeping things constructive and channelled. Always have some ideas up your sleeve and do not hesitate to rotate ideas that have been well received. A secret weapon of mine was playing with rice in the baby bathtub and let them take a shower / bath, including water play almost every day. Also think, crafting, free play, building forts, dancing, hide and seek, jumping, puzzles and books. You don’t need to be the most creative person, Google and Pinterest will be your best friends! Check out some Pinterest boards with ideas for indoor play for toddlers & babies.
4. Rotate the toys every couple of days
You will only have a limited supply of toys, so make the most out of it. When the selection is limited the kids will get creative on what to do with it and play more. Switch them every couple of days and they will stay interesting. Except for their favourite toys. For us that meant that the cars where there at all times. This way you will also keep the mess to an acceptable level and have them more focused on using what is available.
5. Arts and crafts supplies will save the day
We didn’t have one day where we didn’t do some arts and crafts work. Usually our older one would decide on the theme and then I would search for a thing to do appropriate for the older and the younger one. They would also sit down and just draw on paper and use stickers which we then used to decorate the room. Think paper, coloured paper, stickers, paint, crayons and markers, playdough, pipe cleaners, sticky eyes, carton, straws, balloons and even toilet paper rolls.And of course the staples of scissors, glue and washi tape. Let me tell you do not underestimate the value of washi tape to entertain your kids for what seems like hours. It comes in handy for streets for the cars, parking spots, decorating the window, holding stuff together, or just plainly stick it to mommy or yourself.
6. Screen time – Be generous
Screen time will for sure be a big item during 14 days of quarantining, from experience we would say, that now is not the time to limit it too much, but to use it during designated times and choose wisely what the kids are allowed to watch. We watched shows, but also watched videos on how things are made, how a car is produced, how a car gets transformed into a stretch limousine, learned about dolphins, dinosaurs and the solar system. We also found a great app for learning letters and numbers and much more – Khan Academy Kids. Within this app, our older kiddo could freely choose, whether to listen to books, watch short interactive videos and songs or learn about letters and numbers.
We also used the screen to dance along, exercise and be inspired for our crafting activities. Making it more of a tool for another activity rather than that darned thing that leaves kids glued to a screen and in a zombielike status.
7. Video Calls with family and friends
A no brainer, but regardless worth mentioning. If you are separated as a family this will be your way to keep in touch, say hi and even do activities together. If you are all in the same room, calling family and friends means that you and your kids are able to talk to somebody else and tell about your day, activities and showing them around your little world. It takes away the attention from you for that bit and gives you some space to breathe too.
8. Involved them in keeping the room clean and tidy
You probably do this at home too, so don’t break with the routine. Let your kids help with cleaning and tidying up the room. For us that meant buzzling around with one of those sticky rolls to clean the floor, dusting surfaces and washing clothes in the shower. They happily jumped in and there goes another life skill learned.
9. Embrace the chaos
As organised as you can be, living on a limited amount of square meters with kids will be beautifully messy. You might have limited space to put things away and even if so, the kids will be creative at what they need to play with (within limits). Take the opportunity to do things you might not do so much at home, like jumping on the bed, painting in the shower, having fries way too often, ordering ice cream or anything else you might fancy to sweeten your day.
10. Keep on smiling with a positive attitude
It might be easier said than done, but keeping a positive mindset will go a long way during those 14 days. Kids are very sensitive to your mood and will act upon it. So, it will actually make your life easier to embrace the situation and make the best out of it. As they say “If life give you lemons, make lemonade” and we sure did a lot of that! Make your personal well-being and that of your children a priority and you are halfway there.
We actually made it to Day 12 with lots of smiles and laughter, but then got a smell of freedom. We had to take a taxi to go get our PCR test done and after that my mojo was broken. It felt cruel to give people a hint of freedom and then send them back. At least for me the 2 last days were the most difficult ones, I am pretty sure this was reflected in the kids behaviour too.
No pressure
Isn’t there a certain pressure to use your time in quarantine wisely, to learn a new skill, exercise, plan your next steps to name just a few. And yes, you could teach your kids a new skill, home school them, and leaving quarantine with a sense of accomplishment. But then you could also just celebrate that you got through the day, especially with small kids, that you had fun as a family and were able to bond during that extra time together. How about patting you on the shoulder that you made it through the day and will soon be done with quarantine. Do whatever works for you and your family and know that whatever happens, this also shall pass!
Don’t forget…
Don’t forget to celebrate the small wins, like making it through your first week, having had a really good day or just acknowledge that you had very though one. You will make it through quarantine and maybe you will even create fond memories to look back to fondly someday.
Considering the age of our kids, we surely were more on the celebrating side of things: that we made it through the day, shared a lot of laughter and will soon be done with this craziness. Not to mention that the attention span from our kids went rapidly down. I would argue that by the end of quarantine they had the attention span of a goldfish (which is about 6 seconds)!
Also rest assured that the kids will be ok! These little humans are way more resilient than we might think and will most probably enjoy all that extra time with mom and dad. We stayed positive (most of the time) and tried to make the experience as pleasant as possible and they sure enjoyed all these extra fries, painting in the shower and playing with rice on top of jumping on the bed at least three times a day.
You’ve got this!
Some ideas for activities and things to pack in no particular order:
- Upcycle containers and bottles you get during your stay
- Craft Masks (Unicorns, crabs, dinosaurs, you name it, we’ve done it! 😛
- Pompom thrower (Either with straws or recycled toilet paper rolls)
- Balloons
- Decorate the room
- Painting in the shower
- Fine motor skill activities
- Puzzles
- Books
- Stickers / drawing (A lot of them!)
- Busy books
Useful links to prepare for quarantine in Taiwan:
- Offical list of quarantine hotels Unfortunately the booking system is still complicated as different cities adopt different booking methods. But this gives you a starting point on which hotels are available across the country
- Official site of the CDC (Taiwan Centers for Disease Controll). You will get the latest official updates on this site.
- Facebook group “Quarantine Support in Taiwan”. The group offers first hand experiences from travellers in quarantine and preparing for quarantine.
Quarantining tips from the Taiwan Community Center:
Experiences, tips & tricks from other bloggers:
- Ideas for themed activities per day and more
- Sunny from Spot on Sunshine wrote up about all the steps once you leave the airplane in Taiwan
Feeling inspired; but also needing activities and support to get through quarantine with kids? Get in touch to see how we can help you with activity boxes for kids, wellness items for you and more.
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