At Home With COVID And My Kids

I have a confession.

It may appear like I’m handling the ‘home-working and kid-tutoring’ during COVID like a pro, but it can be a little overwhelming and exhausting at times.

I started with a solid plan, see if you recognise this…

I wrote up a detailed daily structure so that the kids knew what was expected of them in terms of their homework and chores around the house. We opted to keep their bedtimes the same to keep some sort of routine.

Five weeks into lockdown and bedtimes have creeped on an hour, breakfast happens in bed for the kids, the homework gets done(ish) and my laptop stays by the bedside so I can ease into my day, work in my PJs and no one is any the wiser.

That daily structure is still loosely cello-taped to the fridge as a gentle reminder to us all of what we’re aiming for, but we’ve kind of got used to this isolating COVID chaos in our own way. Like an ill-fitting pair of jeans…we have eased our way in and now it sort of feels comfortable…it's the new norm.

But one furloughed husband, two continually hungry kids and one angry dog, all at home while you’re trying to do your best writing, emailing and virtual networking can definitely be a recipe for disaster.

Striving for that perfect image of a working mother that you might see on your Facebook and WhatsApp Parenting Tips Groups is only going to make you feel like you’re not achieving, that you’re somehow behind or lacking in some way. That’s when anxiety can kick in and that can cook up a mini mental mummy breakdown.

As a mum who has lived through depression and anxiety in the past, it’s always on my mind that this strange, and sometimes stressful, situation might trigger the fearful feeling of losing control not just of my life, but of my mind too.

I think we have a choice,

Choose Life or COVID

And if you choose COVID, it could be the slippery slope into despair, with one eye on the daily distressing Boris bulletins, and the other looking at what Sharon on Facebook is effortlessly creating with her kids out of an old pair of curtains and yoghurt pots while your kids shout at you about the glitchy wifi and all you want to do is send one email...

Argh!

Everyone likes to pass on their top ten tips, some words of advice, their two pennies worth about what to do to get through the COVID chaos. Here is what’s helped me, and it might help you stay mentally fit as you try to do your best working, mothering, partnering…

• Try not to think of everything at once.
• Take each day and each challenge at a time.
• Choose one time to check in with the news.
• Schedule in a 30 minute ‘worry’ time slot.
• Let the kids have their downtime too.
• Keep talking about how you’re feeling and let someone know when you need that reassuring virtual hug.
• Use the Internet for virtual play dates, quizzes, having virtual roast dinner with your parents.
• Don’t believe everything you see on social media
• Laugh lots.

Choose Life. Not COVID.