I see you, moms, with your color-coded, minute-by-minute schedules. I see your beautiful attempts to maintain a civil household, entertain, and promote learning. I see {and admire} the future successes you’re going to have. Although you may hit the couch at night feeling as if you just went down with the Titanic, you will have happy, mentally stimulated, physically tired kids at 7:30pm, because you went all out being the mom that people {like me} wish they could be.
What I also see are moms like me:
- The ones who just had their kids home for Spring break and were counting down the minutes until regular schedules resumed, only to find that break has been extended for one, two, or many more weeks.
- The moms who still have to work from home or are now exhausting their sick and vacation time to compensate for the school and childcare that is their normal routine.
- The moms who are stressing at this very moment to figure out childcare because they do not have any paid leave and yet their places of work are still expecting them to show up tomorrow whilst schools are closed.
The past few days are unprecedented and I think we are all in a state of shock over what has quickly escalated within 48 hours. There is no doubt in my mind that “flattening the curve” is essential to get to the other side of this. But the reality is that most humans in this world do not function well outside of their normal routine. I could write and color code schedules all day long and wake up with the best intentions tomorrow morning to execute every step of them, and yet the truth is that it is never going to happen for me and my family.
Why?
I have a job {thankfully working from home} and I own a business {which is unfortunately going to see tremendous financial hurt from all of this}. My mind is in a million places and I simply cannot instantaneously turn into Suzy Homemaker and throw all other responsibilities to the back burner. For one, I need to make money to survive, and two, my kids are at such different ages and stages, it is almost impossible to keep them successfully entertained with the same nap schedules, activities, and educational attempts.
I applaud the moms who are looking at the weeks to come with a “Bring it on; I’ve got this” mentality. However, for the moms who more closely align to my situation and psychology behind it, I say there is no shame in the technology game.
Schedule-Free for COVID-19
There will be no scheduled device time in our house. I will not limit Disney+ viewing, Roblox can be played whenever my husband or I are not needing the desktop for work, and tablets will be charged and available during all waking hours. We will try to get outside during lunch breaks to ensure a sound nap for the baby and toddler, and we will make time for family interaction at night that involves putting away the technology. That’s the best I’ve got, friends. I won’t necessarily describe it as a free-for-all, but I will say that this household is going to play it by ear.
My kids often need to find new channels and games to catch and keep their attention. We no longer live in the world where all of them are content watching Frozen 2 on repeat for two weeks straight. So, for anyone else in a similar boat, I have compiled a list of interesting YouTube channels for different ages and stages:
Ages 1.5 to 3:
Ages 3 to 5:
Ages 6 to 8:
Ages 9 to 11:
To the stay-at-home-moms who have been training for this since the day they gave birth, to the work-from-home moms who haven’t had their kids home full time in a couple of years, to the upper-level corporate careers moms who have no idea how to handle all of this: we will get through this.
We are resilient and smart. This is just another bump in the road in the game of life and we must do our best to embrace it and take on our social responsibility as humans, doing whatever we can to flatten that curve.
