I’ve been reading a lot about families coping, bonding, and learning during this pandemic. It’s hard not to discover unexpected things about ourselves and each other during this unimaginable length of time in close quarters. We’ve all been used to getting on with work, school and ‘me time’ in our daily life and now our daily life has all our activities under one roof with our family around us.
I thought it would be interesting to get first-hand information about what it is like being home with our grandchildren day-to-day … everyday, from the most reliable source – their Moms.
1) Three words that describe your day at home with the children:
Vanessa in New Jersey (with children: Kendall age 10, Cameron age 8, Andrew age 4):
o Chaotic
o Calm
o Mess
Rebecca in Auckland (with children: Tilly age 6, Winnie age 2):
o Crazy
o Noisy
o Energetic
Clarissa in Singapore (with children: Stella age 12, Chloe age 9):
o Long
o Worry-free
o Entertaining
Jane in Grasmere (with Bart age 1):
o Hectic
o Fulfilling
o Grubby
2) Three things that help you get by each day with a smile:
Vanessa:
o Seeing the moments when the kids are genuinely bonding.
o Kendall giving Andrew art and nature lessons.
o Kendall and Cameron having baking championships.
o Cam and Andrew snuggling while watching a movie.
Rebecca:
o Seeing moments of affection and love between the girls.
Clarissa:
o Meditation
o Coffee
o Phone chats with my friends
Jane:
o Caffeine
o Content!
We’re consuming so much great content at the moment – there’s some brilliant stuff being created during this mad time – and since we’ve been under house arrest there’s obviously been an increased opportunity to enjoy it!
– Elizabeth Day’s wonderful podcast How to Fail has delivered some great listening, during these fretful times. I loved a recent episode with contemporary philosopher Alain de Botton who cautioned against feeling a need for what he described as a “cosmic serenity” and comfortingly advised that now was a great moment to lose your mind! Temporary insanity, he suggests is in fact the sign of being totally sane. Great news!
– I just loved this short piece Here’s How Time Works Now by Eli Grober for McSweeny’s on the elasticity of time: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/heres-how-time-works-now
– Film and TV: Parasite, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Normal People, I May Destroy You, Little Fires Everywhere, Hillary and the batty docco McMillion’s – all have provided great viewing. Special mention also to the recent return of Gogglebox. Utterly joyful.
o Our friends and family. Ours, like many peoples are far flung – and I think now more so than ever – we feel a very long way away. We’re so lucky that technology affords us the opportunity to keep in contact and chatting with them is the most cheering and vital part of our day.
3) The happiest and the most challenging parts of the day:
Vanessa:
o Happiest times are finding moments of peace, like sitting at the pool and reading while the kids swim. A win for all!
o The most challenging times are rainy days when we are sick of being stuck inside – together!
Rebecca:
o The happiest – Bedtime! 😁
o Challenging – Trying to keep everyone happy at the same time.
Clarissa:
o Chatting with the girls about random things.
o Getting them to bed at a decent hour.
Jane:
o I’m really grateful for the increased time this weird period affords me to spend with my family – that’s when I’m happiest.
o We’re super fortunate and very grateful for our circumstances – the most challenging thing is balancing full time employment with parenting a frankly alarmingly active one year old. He’s made plenty of guest appearances on Microsoft Teams!
Kevin and Trudy
