#CoronaChronicles #2 Being A Mommy

So clearly the 100-to-dos-a-day-abiding off-springs find themselves as 'Confused as a Gazelle', thanks to #SocialDistancing i.e. #ForcedHomeArrest!

For they can SEE THE Garden but CANNOT PLAY in it; It's #SummerTime AND their friends and them are all 'home', yet aren't allowed to get together on play-dates!

So what has the 2-3+ weeks in Quarantine taught some of us parents:

  1. There's a reason Indian Mythology put Teacher (Guru) before God (Daivam) - How and we mean HHHOWWWW do these (super) women manage 25-40-50-70 of the species which share characteristics similar to those of our off-springs all at the same time! With just 2-in-tow, in 24*7*16, the increase in voice decibels and the number of such episodes per day seem threatening and injurious to the health of the people at home and those of our neighbors too! And not to forget the endless reams of school work that remain untouched.. "Oh Amma, we have the rest of the summer break to finish them, please let us be", they argue! Oh God, send those Teacher powers my way pleassssse!!
  2. There's never a dull moment through the day and not a skill you do not have flowing through your veins - In the past few weeks, we've heard parents upskilling themselves on fancy dressing, dancing, playing gully cricket in a 4*4 sqft play ground, apart from re-skilling themselves on cooking, cleaning, swabbing, folding clothes, ironing et al! As for me, I have now developed immunity to 6-hour Monopoly games, can play chess on auto-mode and am actually winning at Table Tennis - a sport that I've been unable to fathom for the past 3 decades!! Phew - talk about being multi-Talented! :D 
  3. Rhythms will go hay-wire and schedules will not be followed - Children wake up when you're well into your 3rd meeting of the day! Brunches are in and so are 3 pm lunches and 10 pm snacks! Screen time limits are passe and bed time well exceeds the permissible limits.. Yet there's only so much damage Boss Baby, Peppa Pig and Disney movies can do to their young minds! Thank your stars - At least your children are where they are safe and need to be, home - touchwood! AND this means - they will barge into 80% of your meetings as you struggle to figure out the ways-of-working-from-home, it's their space you've invaded, mind you! 
  4. Emotions are running high and 7 and 9 (and 11)-year olds can throw tantrums too, like a Boss (baby)! Remember, they are going through a multitude of feelings, some that they're able to express, many Not! And all those conversations that you're occupying yourself with, on the phone and skype chats, the news you watch, the social media forwards & memes you share and joke about with your spouse - they're soaking it all in! More importantly, they have been robbed of their #SummerVacation even before they got over the fact that they couldn't even say their customary-good-bye-before-the-long-break. They're on a 'summer break' without swimming pools and endless rounds of hide-n-seek with 23 water breaks interspersed in between! Can't blame them, can you!? Yet keep the resolve and fight for the remote #GameOn  
  5. You should've invested in an Akshayapatra (the inexhaustible food vessel) rather than the clothes, the gadgets and the other fancy (read crappy) stuff you brought online on Sale after sale the ecommerce firms fooled you with! And now that you realize you weren't as wise, You MUST innovate and cook 2 - 3 times a day - AND face a reaction that's mostly like this - "Whaaaaaaaaaaaatttttt... Rice/ Chapaati / Bread/ Upma / Idli / 'X' Vegetable / (replace-it-with-whatever-you-want) againnnnnnnnnnnn!!?? Oh no amma!" followed by a fight that seems like World War III! Do not give up - stuff those calories in! A hungry child is crankier, mind you!!
This said, hang in there (yes yes on the home gym that you co-built with your kids to keep them occupied OR for their "school project" whatever!!).. For once, signing up for a weight loss program sounds far more exciting that exercising those vocal chords OR those muscles on house-work, no!? 

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