It has been a year since the pandemic started, and we are constantly adjusting to our “new normal”. The teens are into online learning. Husband and I are still working from home. My husband has an eight-to-six job, while my work schedule is flexible as a freelance writer.
At the start, I thought it will be a breeze adjusting to this new normal. But as time passes by, we all discovered how stressful this set up is. One, there is no clear separation of work and family hours. There can be work demands even on weekends. There are times when my husband has to revise work even after office hours. Sometimes, he may need to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to check up on office work. The teens are glued to their laptops, even on weekends finishing some schoolworks.
And how to we keep our stress at bay?
>> In between online works, my husband and I squeeze in some yoga/stretching exercises just to give our bodies a breather from the long hours of sitting in front of the computer.
>> We listen to our favorite music, tend the garden, play with pets during scheduled work breaks. These are some of the activities that we truly enjoy.
>> At night, we unwind by watching comedy films.
>> Lastly, we play some online games, not only as the break the monotony of work, but to exercise our brains with some puzzles and word games!
PLAYING VIDEO GAMES BY KIDS AND ADULTS:
I did some research and found some studies about kids playing video games. They become more creative when it comes to writing and drawing. Puzzle video games improve verbal comprehension, visual and spatial processing, visual perception, planning and reasoning.
In one article, it is said that video games can reduce stress in adults. Also, video games might just slow down the aging process. The “brain games” involving problem solving and memory have been shown to have a positive benefit in older players. In one study, just 10 hours of play led to increased cognitive functioning in participants 50 and older.
FUN ONLINE GAMES FOR FREE:
During the pandemic, I discovered this site where I can play games for free! It is called https://plays.org.
The games can be quickly played from the browser. With loading time just for a few seconds. I can play it both on my laptop and on my phone. They have more or less 100 games on their site, and the hardworking people behind it try to publish a new game or two every day!
Two of my personal favorites when it comes to free and fun onlines games are: FALLING CUBES, a remake of the classic puzzle game that I had fun in early 2000, Tetris; and WORDS FAMILY, a simple word game where I try to spell words across using the letter tiles to fill in the puzzle.
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| CATEGORY BASED NAVIGATION FOR THE GAME COLLECTION |
What has the pandemic taught me? That is OK to spend quality playing the computer to de-stress. That somehow this "new normal" has turned me into a "gamer-mom" for my own mental health. And that it is highly acceptabe for majority of working moms to play these online games to relax when they have free time.
And I have to be thankful, that my husband and my two teens share the same interests in online games. We truly live by these words "the family that PLAYS together, stay HAPPY together"!
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