Being a mum can have it’s ups and downs at the best of times, being a mum during lockdown can be like swimming against the tide with a small army of sea creatures throwing washing, home learning, cooking, playing, tantruming children and an array of toys at you, all from a 2 meter distance of course!
Whatever your feelings on lockdown, if you look carefully there are as many positives as negatives. As a working mum I have cherished the extra time I have been able to spend with my little one, watching him grow and change before my eyes. With all the wonderful weather, we’ve spent days just playing in the garden, eating ice creams and splashing about in the fancy, new ‘lockdown’ pool we just needed to have. Those are some of the good days, the up days.
Then there are the down days. Like the first weekend of lockdown when my darling little one smashed the widescreen telly with a thermometer (yes at the beginning of lockdown I was probably more worried about the thermometer). And the days when working from home on an important zoom call, I get the sinking feeling that the house is a little too quiet and find he’s pushed the fridge water dispenser, for who knows how long and has flooded both himself and the kitchen floor! It’s only looking back on it now that I find it funny, at the time it’s stressful and annoying.
Whatever your home/work situation is at this time, it’s important to remember you’re doing a great job. Even on those down days when life just seems so much harder to get even the simplest of jobs done, you’re still doing a great job. You and your children will look back on this time one day and think, wasn’t it lovely we got to look after each other at home and learn to be a family again without all the usual hustle, bustle and distractions.
Being a mum during lockdown has actually taught me many things. While my levels of patience vary from day to day I realise it’s family times like these where we really become ‘Mum’. If the ironing basket is always full and the toys are all in a pile in the middle of the room for the third day in a row, it’s times like these we need to remember to take a step back and be grateful. Grateful we are safe at this time. Grateful we have our children and families close (even if a phone call away). Grateful we can make memories we will look back on and cherish for years to come. Grateful we’re not missing the little things in life, it’s the small moments that matter most sometimes.
Anxious? Stressed? Exhausted? Safe? Rested? Grounded? However you’ve been feeling during this time, and for me it’s been a whole daily mixture of emotions, every feeling you’ve had is valid and part of our journey as mothers. Remember without the down days, we would never realise the blissful feeling of those precious happy days. xBx
Being Mum, Being Me 