Toddler + Global Pandemic Lockdown = ?
Lockdown has been tough.
We have found it difficult to keep connected through technology as our two-year-old pocket rocket doesn’t like to sit still for her conversations.
We also learned very quickly that she found it more difficult seeing people through video calls than not seeing them at all, which meant that we have been quite cut off through the months of UK lockdown.
As I begin to reconnect with friends and family, listening to people’s lockdown stories has been unreal.
Listening
Listening to the loss, the grief and the heartache of some of my connections has humbled me. Not only within myself as the realisation hits as to how fortunate I am not to have been touched by this awful disease within my own inner circle, but humbled to hear the narratives that are testaments to the strength of the people who I share my life with.
Sharing
I have really valued the opportunity to read from fellow parents in the Instagram community, hearing of your challenges to remember that none of us are alone in lockdown parenting; even if we can’t see each other, we are experiencing similarities.
The normal changes faced by every team of parents by the next stage their child entered has been magnified by a lack of child care for many and the balancing act of working from home with a very small person who needs you as they are confused by the sudden change of life circumstances.
We have all learned how to exist in a new normal and need to keep supporting each other as we enter into the next phase and restrictions ease.
Changing
I don’t know anyone who will not be emerging from lockdown back to their life as they knew it. In my family, our whole life has had the rug pulled from under our feet and we have had to adapt.
My journey to creating a life by design has prepared me for this challenge and the years since becoming a Mama have given me remote working skills and experiences that have enabled me to be the most adaptable and the most open to feeling my way into the next chapter of my life.
I am at ease with wherever life will take us next and I am hopeful for all of us to use this huge, historical moment in time to evaluate, adapt and grow in a way we may never have thought possible before.
Gratitude
I have felt overwhelmed with gratitude for so many events and people during 2020.
For my own little family, including our lovely fur baby who I don’t know how we would have got through it all without! She has been our exercise, our cuddles and she has been such a wonderful playmate for our girl. They have created such a close bond during the lockdown; it really is quite beautiful to see.
For my husband, for our daughter; it has truly been a pleasure to have been locked down with you both. No, not easy, but what a journey.
For my family and for my friends- to know they have kept safe and well and to know they were always there waiting for the restrictions to lift to see and the feelings on seeing them again have been immense and I am so aware of how much I love them all.
But, finally, I have been so overwhelmed with the beautiful moments of humanity. Despite the news being full of loss and hatred, there has been so much good present across the world.
The images of #clapforcarers, the rainbows still brightening our nation’s streets, the key workers who have kept the country going despite the danger they were in as they ‘just’ did their jobs.
The images of people taking the knee, the photos of police supporting protestors and the positive changes that have happened in terms of how people are responding to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The world has changed, My family’s life has changed.
I know that I have changed.
Toddler + Pandemic = Who knows- we still have yet to find out.
One thing is for certain though, I am certainly feeling grateful and I am completely hopeful for the future.
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