RICHMOND, Va. -- Staying at home is one of the hardest adjustments many people are coping with to fight the spread of COVID-19. It can be even more difficult with a number people inside a confined space over the course of time, especially when children are involved.
Mary Beth Beasley came up with an idea for her family to use a relaxation tool to battle cabin fever.
“I just wanted our kids to have a positive start to this homeschooling transition," the Chesterfield mother said. "It's a bizarre thing that we're dealing with, so I figured we would start with something beautiful."
Beasley and her children are working on a mandala.
"It's from the Buddhist religion and it's usually done in sand, so it's not permanent, so that it can be wiped away and start all over," she said. "It's about connecting with yourself. A lot of people do it for meditation."
Instead of sand, Beasley used chalk in her Monacan Hills neighborhood. The project takes more than a few hours to complete.
"Probably a total of about of five and half six hours to do. There was stopping and started going to get kids snacks and trying to figure out what I was going to do next,” she said.
But what this mandala did most was keep the kids occupied in a fun and safe way.
"They were keeping their social distances, but they were enjoying the time around me while I was making the designs," she said. "Then they would help me when I needed to make reference points with the measuring tape."
That's what this new day is about. Making the most of our time, in an uncertain one, with the ones we love.
"Our community is really special to our family and that was a big reason why I was willing to put in the time for this. I knew it would be appreciated," Beasley said.