A Mother’s Journey During COVID-19
I never imagined myself being a stay-at-home mother. During my maternity leave I was itching to get back to work and have my life go back to normal. The difference now is that i don’t know when that’ll be. I’m stuck at home all day with my three-year-old daughter and to say we’re going crazy is an understatement.
As a family we like to do activities that usually involve leaving our house. Visiting family is a weekly thing for us. Especially around holidays like Easter, we find ourselves involved in a lot of community events. Adjusting to these circumstances has been hard for us.
I have three years of experience working in childcare, so I feel I have a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to entertaining a toddler. But, there are no tricks in the world that could have prepared me for what I’m now experiencing. One thing I enjoy making are sensory bins and they seem to keep my daughter well entertained.
Along with the sensory bins we’ve been doing a lot of crafts, playing outside and baking. My daughter Hazel is obsessed with the outdoors. We’ve been spending most of our quarantined-days walking around our neighborhood and playing in our backyard.
One thing I learned from my job is to pay attention to the child’s interest and do activities that relate. For us, that’s been making crafts with objects we find outside, going on scavenger hunts and having her help clean the yard which is something she thankfully loves doing.
One of the nice things about being home all day is that I have the time to make delicious home-cooked meals. Cooking has been something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I’m thankful to now have the time to do it.
One of the not-so-nice things about being home all day is that my house is constantly a mess and I have no alone time. I can’t even find the time to fold laundry.
When I do get the rare time of peace and quite, I take advantage by: reading a book, cleaning the house, napping and practicing my yoga. I usually don’t have time to enjoy all of those things everyday, so I pick and choose what’s more important at the time. For my mental state, I usually prefer yoga.
I am very stressed out and overwhelmed with trying to entertain my daughter, keep my house clean and finish my classes all while worrying about COVID-19. It’s definitively not easy. There are days where I feel like it’s all too much.
Although my days feel hard, I still consider myself blessed to be building wonderful memories and spending so much time with my family. Once this is all over and I’m back to work, I might even find myself missing these days.