How To Make It Through The Winter With Hygge (part 1) The Reading Nook

Today, I could easily be discouraged by the news. It looks like we're going to be inside a lot this winter and there's not much we can do about it. We can only do our best to keep well and help others keep well, too. But there's one idea that brings me encouragement these days and that's the concept of hygge.

Hygge, pronounced hoo'-gah, is a Scandinavian term that roughly translates to English as a feeling of family coziness and well-being. Here's a definition I found online.

1. a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture). "why not follow the Danish example and bring more hygge into your daily life?"
   

Hygge came about in order to fight the dreariness of the long dark winters in Scandinavia. It often includes natural lighting and/or candles. It promotes a feeling of family togetherness. That's something we need more of everywhere these days. In Denmark where they're viewed the happiest people in the world, they focus on warm, comfortable, and relaxing family time during the winter months.

That's not because they're eternal optimists who can't see the trouble in the world, they just know that the best way to prevent mental health problems is to address them at their most rudimental level. In the home.

I love the concept of hygge so much and I see it as a way to make this winter something special even though it's no doubt going to be long and challenging.

The truth is that parts of my home are in a bit of a mess right now and that doesn't feel too hygge. Cleaning them up can only help my state of mind. I'm going to start in the library and focus on creating a comfy, warm space for reading. It's a baby step, but an achievable goal.

Since I'm so truly lucky to have my own child/adult library in my home, I'm going to make it the celebration of play and learning that it deserves to be by creating a hygge- filled reading nook fit for the residents of a castle.

Learning should be fun and fulfilling but not everybody experiences it this way. In my home respect for learning is ingrained in the culture so we enjoy it.

Here's my hygge plan!

First i'm going to clean up a little clutter every day and I'm going to focus on my library. See the photo above.

Then, I'm going to create my own extra special reading nook. I plan on spending very little money on this project.

I did spend some time looking at really nice, comfy reading nooks online and thought hard about how I could design one with what I already had. I'll post the before and after pics in a couple of weeks (hopefully) when it's done!

It's going to be an amazing transformation with only a little time and effort.

Anyway, let me leave you with 3 ways to create more hygge around the area of learning in your home. The reason I chose to focus on learning today is because I think it makes life more interesting and fun. We're going to need as much of that as we can get this winter but we're a community, or we should be (if you're not a part of us yet, it's free!), so we can do our best to suppost each other on that. Here are 3 ways to bring more hygge into your home this winter!

1. Create a respect for learning in your home by taking the time to eat together and during the course of the meal, ask each family member to share one thing that they learned during the day. Everybody listens and there are no wrong answers.

2. Make sure your home includes spaces and time to be alone as well as spaces and time to work together. Set up a table for a hobby, games or puzzles. A card table with a

tablecloth will usually do the trick. Here's a picture of my hobby table. If you want to try it you can get the easy DIY instructions to make your own message rocks here.

3. Set aside 20-30 minutes each day when everyone takes a break from what they're doing and reads. Many kids will have to do this as their required homework anyway but in my scenario, everyone, even you, reads. Pets are the ONLY exception and they'll probably just join you anyway. Anything, as long as its age and family appropriate can be allowed but I'd advise against browsing the internet or reading social media. You can also take turns summarizing what you read at the end. Kids too young to actually read participate by looking at picture books.

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of How To Make It Through The Winter With Hygge. Come back next week because I'm going to talk about using communication to improve the hygge in your home! Or browse my blog articles and homepage for lots of fun ideas that focus on helping you relax and have fun, not feel more pressure with your children.

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Nanci J Bradley is an early childhood and family educator, parent, author, teacher, SELF-care facilitator, family aerobics instructor, and an all-around fun-loving person. She believes in the power of sleep, healthy eating, lifelong learning, and most of all, PLAY! She studied early childhood ed at Triton College and received her BS in education in 1986 from NIU. She received her MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College in 2011. She lives and teaches in Madison WI