Inside the quarantined life of a family of 10

By Lacee Duncan | Photos of Duncan family provided by Lacee Duncan

Bored isn’t a word that is ever in my vocabulary.

For the past three weeks (and counting), my family of 10 and I have been quarantined inside our home in Winchester, Kentucky.

I know, it’s a lot. Ten people living under the same roof with four dogs running around can be a lot on any given day, but it somehow became our normal.

However, given the unusual circumstances of today’s world, it has become anything but normal.

I have two 23-year-old twin brothers, a 19-year-old sister, a 12-year-old sister, an 11-year-old sister, a 10-year-old sister, and an 8-year-old brother. I’m 21 years old so I fall right in between the ages of the “big kids.”

While everyone being home is nice, the circumstances aren’t ideal. We have had to find ways to be appreciative of the time we’re spending as a family and not take it for granted.

During the day, we all have work to do. But when we get little breaks when everyone is free, we make sure to take advantage of them.

Our favorite thing to do during the day is play cards, bake, go on walks and, unashamedly, make TikToks.

Our favorite card games are Arm and a Leg and Phase Ten. Both card games take at least an hour and they can get pretty competitive, so we sometimes end up playing four games a day just so everyone has a better chance of winning.

My 19-year-old sister and I are usually the ones who bake, and we alternate between cookies, brownies, and cake. They are usually gone within four hours.

Whenever a member of my family braves the outside world and goes to the store, they end up looking like they’re hoarding enough food to last a single person for a year. Little do outsiders know that they are feeding a family of 10 for approximately one week.

When we go on walks, each person is assigned one of the four dogs. Taking a walk is such a good way to get fresh air and to exercise, but they’re usually cut short by one of the dogs taking off and leaving us in the dust.

I’m sure that you’ve heard of TikTok. With four siblings in elementary/middle school, it’s inevitable for my family to know about it. Some of my siblings and I have had so fun trying to recreate the dances and uploading them to the social media site.

At night when everyone is done with everything, we either watch movies or binge watch TV shows. Our record as of now is finishing a show in three days. With the rate we’re going, we should be beating that record any day now.

At the end of the day, being quarantined together has taught us so many things. Above all, we have made it a point to never go to bed without saying “I love you” because if this situation has taught us anything, it's that we are never promised tomorrow.