Parenting is hard. I say this quite often. Not because I don’t like it. I love being a mom more than anything but parenting is hard. I don’t like being a disciplinarian much to Stephen’s enjoyment & Amy’s chagrin. I don’t like overanalyzing the choices we make & the things we say & do on Stephen’s behalf. My thought process is & always has been that I don’t want to raise Stephen in a childhood he has to recover from.
Parenting in a pandemic though….is complete nonsense. Along with all of the other children in our county and others, Stephen will start on-line school on Monday. I’m still working from home so it’ll be quite interesting. We’re coming off a two week Spring Break free for all. No bedtime, day time Xbox playing, unlimited (but monitored) phone usage, & candy at 10 AM, well because Momma eats candy at 10 AM too. Usually, we gradually implement bedtime at the end of school breaks so we all get back on a schedule. I guess I forgot that this time. Stephen is a truly great kid & I’m hoping to prove that we no longer need to do that…or Amy will be right, again, & we’ll continue to do it.
There are other difficulties with parenting in a pandemic. Most of Stephen’s friends are also being quarantined but a few aren’t. Trying to explain to a 10-year-old why he can’t play & other kids can isn’t something I thought I’d be doing every.single.day. but here we are. I’ve tried also explaining to the kids knocking on the door that Stephen won’t be able to play until the virus is gone but that’s not working either. Then we have Stephen’s dad, who is still having to work. Stephen hasn’t seen his dad in person for over two weeks. For now we agreed it’s safer for him not to but I know it’s hard on both of them.
Overall, I’m just ready for everything to go back to normal. I do like spending extra time with Stephen & Amy but I’d like to go back to when we could hop in the car and spend a couple of hours at the beach or walk somewhere besides our neighborhood. I hope you all are doing well & staying safe! What are somethings you’re doing to keep yourself & your kids occupied?
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