Parenting in the pandemic - Part 1

Covid and quarantine has been difficult for all of us. The uncertainty is mentally, physically and emotionally taxing. Especially for someone like me, who is practically a single working mother of 2 young kids. The lockdown meant I had to manage the housework, office work and the kids all alone.

I didn’t know how I would manage all this but there was no choice either. I couldn’t sleep the first few nights of lockdown, no it was not the fear of the pandemic, I was very sure Covid would not get me as I would be dead with all the housework even before Covid gets to me!

As it always happens, when you don’t have any choice you just go with the flow. When the lockdown started, I started managing everything on my own, And I was feeling like a superwoman!

Slowly I got used to the new routine. Kids were also settled into the new schedule of online classes and no nanny. We started scheduling things -- my 8-year-old daughter and I took turns babysitting my younger one who was just 16 months when lockdown happened. I would take care of him while my daughter took her online classes and she would engage him while I attended my zoom meetings.

One day my daughter volunteered to bathe him (of course my supervision, please don’t think of booking me for child neglect :/ ) and to this day he hates being bathed by anyone else. They bonded over these chores and it was such a proud sight for me to see the brother-sister bond flourishing.

Within a few days of lockdown, we got used to the self-dependent life. All the chores were distributed amongst my daughter and me and even my toddler started helping us (at least that is how he pretended). Around this time the news channels were full of the news of migrant laborers walking miles to reach their native villages. Those visuals made us realize how fortunate we were and how important it is for us to unite and help our fellow humans in distress.

My daughter learnt discipline and responsibility. She is now better occupied to face challenges in life. She values time, respects the work of our house help, and is also more compassionate.

I don’t know when the pandemic would end or when the vaccine would be out, but the covid pandemic has taught my children and I a life lesson.

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