COVID19 Challenges the Parent in Me
Ask any Parent, do they face any Challenges in Parenting ??? Irrespective of the caste, creed, religion, society etc every parents will have a Unanimous answer “YES”. You may have fights with your partner for not being in sync or have peers and people judging you, unsolicited advises from strangers and funnel of information on parenting apps, but you seem to sail in your parenting ship staying upright and strong. But this time a powerful external source named COVID19 has challenged my parenting skills.
Before I move ahead, let me be clear that no one around me I know is affected with corona..thankfully I consider that as a blessing but mentally and physically it’s been an exhausting affair. Mentally you may understand but physically ? Yes… after all I had to tell my domestic help that I am taking over her duties for a little while ..
I am in the house, my elder kid (husband) is in the house, his elder kids (my in laws) are in the house and if this was not enough my 3 year old is house arrested too. After all that’s the power of Corona, it has done, what my in laws could not do with me, just kidding. The ruckus, the boredom and the lack of movement has been challenging. But as a parent the challenge is bigger then I thought and let me explain how.
Whenever I open my instagram, with due respect to all the mothers there I see so much of positive substance.A mom out there is doing n number of DIY activities with his/her child, flaunting her kids skills and gaining accolades. Inspired by the content, I too decided to do some DIY activites which ended the first day itself. It took me 1 hour to decide what I should do with kiaan today and it took another 30 mins finding him the relevant materials and it just took 2 mins for kiaan to finish it off and walk away. I mean after all the efforts I put in i would appreciate he spends an hour on it so I push him to do something similar and he clearly says I don’t want to, I did not like.. These words almost made me faint, and the DIY charisma ended there.
Then I saw few moms starting lovely self care rituals to eat clean and exercise at home. Wow !! if they could, than why could I not. So the second day, I planned a meal for me specially, a family meal and kiaan’s meal. Damn what was I even thinking, I spent 3 hours in kitchen just cooking one meal of the day while the other pile of work kept increasing. Exercise !! don’t even ask, I don’t want to talk about it.
Then I saw few moms beaming with a smile, uploading pics of the jadu-phatka they do in the house with so ease and happiness. I mean seriously, I wake up in the morning dont have time to even tie my hair, sweep the floor, cook breakfast and lunch, complete chores like ironing, dusting, play with kiaan (ya that’s a chore now), get him to bath, eat ,play, take a nap, cook dinner, etc and maybe then see myself in the mirror.
I am no way questioning them, but yes am I the only one who is finding it challenging? I use to boost a lot that my kid has low screen time and now I don’t even want to be bothered about how much TV he is watching, I use to have a strict meal plan for him and now I don’t even bother If he asks for a chocolate, I use to put efforts on finding ways to impart knowledge in him and now I don’t mind him getting bored and whining.
The stress funnel of mine is increasing, day by day – night by night.
I have always been inspired by a picture of a mom who has twelve hands and completing her work with a smile and achieving the super mom status. Technically, I don’t want to be that super mom who has stress behind her mind, heart and soul and has to appeal everyone around her.
Am I the only mom who has found this challenging ? This phase is definitely a tough one and I know it will pass but it sometimes makes me doubt on being a parent. My emotions are mixed, my feelings are mixed. Sometimes I feel it’s OK, its a phase and that will pass, sometimes I feel I am horrible, sometimes i feel impatient and sometimes i feel it’s taking away my space. Whatever it is, Covid19 has definitely challenged my parenting Skills and I vouch to accept this crisis and come out stronger and a better parent from the other end.
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