It has been over a year since a mystery illness became a worldwide pandemic started to change the course of everybody’s lives forever. When the word ‘lockdown’ was first uttered and people started to work from home more, we all thought that in a few weeks it would all be over. Now, more than a year later, we’re only just starting to see something a little bit like how life was before the world shut down.
It is safe to say that throughout these almost 13 months of pandemic living, we parents have learned a lot about our capacity for listening to the same songs over and over again while desperately pressing mute as your toddler tugs at your PJ bottoms asking to go to the toilet during a video call. We have also begun to understand how amazing and adaptable our kids really are.
Here are some of the things that we have learned about parenting throughout a pandemic.
Simple Things Matter
It’s been over a year since any of us have got to go and spend a rainy afternoon at the cinema, or bowling, or at the arcades. It’s been over a year since we’ve had to spend £100 on tickets, games, snacks, slot machines, drinks. The truth is, while a family cinema trip followed by bowling is great fun for the family, they’re also pretty expensive if done regularly.
And how often do kids really remember these days? The answer is, not that often, truthfully. BUT take a drive to a country park, pack your own snacks, let kids run around and explore nature and those are the memories they’ll cherish forever.
Christmas is another example. We’re lucky enough to live in an era where online shopping can help us scrape together gifts to open. It didn’t matter that Christmas 2020 wasn’t quite what we’d hoped it would be. We were together and healthy–and that’s what mattered the most.
Homeschooling is Tough
Most of us parents are NOT teachers. And parents who are teachers and who have been diligently logging into the same classroom management software to teach other people’s kids while your kids learn should be highly commended.
It’s been a rough ride. For a few weeks, it was fine. We may have stayed in the same routine, perhaps did a bit of PE with Joe to start off the morning before stationing each child at a different screen to try to keep them learning and engaged. However, they’d soon be missing their friends and having their more comfortable work environment and being able to ask for help without having to press the ‘unmute’ button or dealing with connection issues. All while having at least one parent trying to help them while navigating their own day, with no clue why maths has changed so much since they were at school.
Parents, it’s been a journey, to say the least, but you have made it this far still attached. Your kids have handled this brilliantly, but so have you. You have aced pandemic parenting!
*This is a collaborative post