Shelter-in-place creates hardships, but for one Salinas family, it also means closeness and creativity.

For one family living at the end of a cul-de-sac in South Salinas, there’s a distinct upside to the coronavirus crisis.

“It feels like a good reset to focus on family,” Jeff Davis says. He’s a father to three young children and acts as their primary caretaker, especially when his wife, Ariel Davis, goes to work. She is an emergency room pharmacist at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. She says she’s been steeling herself for “when we become the next New York.”

For as long as they can, the parents plan on fostering a calm and creative environment for their children. “These are scary times,” Jeff says. “But it’s important they don’t see mom and dad freaking out. They reflect their parents’ attitudes.”

The result of this attitude is an enviable quarantine lifestyle. Aside from a few hours of schooling every day, most of the time is spent on playing and creativity. Jeff, Ariel and the kids – Éowyn, 2, Grant, 6, and Mack, 7 – build forts in the living room together, do art projects and prepare homemade pizza. In their backyard, where they spend much of their day, the family has a trampoline. Surrounded by mesh for safety, the trampoline becomes an arena for a family pillow fight.

“We do things we wouldn’t have done before,” Jeff says. “You go about your normal routine and you don’t think to do them. But now you have time.”

Quality time is not automatic, he adds. It requires sorting through priorities and reducing time spent on social media or video games. As a father, he’s finding the experience of staying at home rewarding. Before the virus hit and forced closures, he worked in sales and events for Paraiso Vineyards in Soledad.

Now, he’s with his children all day, every day. “I am watching them grow up, listening to their stories,” he says. “There’s nothing like the imagination of a 7-year-old.

“We always used to ask them questions about their day. Now I ask, what do you want to do. It gives you a window into their minds. I have learned more about my kids in the last three weeks than in the last two years.”