As quarantine is seeming to lighten up in the next few days, I found myself reflecting on these past few months and what I have learned. The main battle I have been fighting the past few months is the battle between working from home and keeping my 2-year-old daughter engaged at the same time. I know a lot of parents have been feeling the same pain. It’s a lot of stopping and starting. I would find myself trying to complete a task and only giving half of my attention to either her or my work. I wasn’t fully all there, so I knew I had to make some scheduling adjustments.

 

As with anything new, there was a lot of trial and error at first. Basically what I finally ended up with is a schedule that works for both of us with activities incorporated throughout the day to encourage learning. Every day we take a walk around the block after breakfast. We focus on nature; pick flowers along the way. We also would count how many rainbows we would see along the way; our neighbors would tape various pictures of rainbows in their windows to uplift the kids. After our walk I try to engage her in some sort of sensory game or puzzle. After our game is lunch time and lunch time leads to nap time. And we all know what nap time means…time to work. I basically have been cramming as much work as I can possibly do for the 3 hours she is catching Z’s.

 

This time has been hard for everyone. And if I came out of it learning one thing it was this: I am lucky. I am lucky to have had these days with her. To spend this quality time with her allowed me to be more actively involved in her development. Where it was extremely stressful at times, I am grateful to have been able to experience it.

 

Written by: Kristin DeBias