I think we can all agree that the last few years have been a circus to one extent or another. Especially if you’ve been parenting during a pandemic. Whether or not you’ve been a stay-at-home parent or a parent that had a job outside the home pre-pandemic our parenting had to change in one way or another.
Most parents, myself included had to make serious changes with kids that were remote learning. I had to readjust our schedule constantly to try and find a better balance for everyone. In the beginning of quarantine both my girls were in middle school and had a similar class schedule. But my challenge at that time was finding a decent time for my regular routine around the house.
Finding a schedule that worked for everyone
Pre-pandemic I had a decent house cleaning schedule. So when our kitchen table became my kids’ school desk I had to change my routine so they could focus. Don’t get me wrong that first week or 2 I still tried to follow some of my routines like business as usual, but I quickly discovered what chores I could still do without being a distraction and which ones I couldn’t.
I had to change up a lot of things I would normally do while they were in a school building. Such as I had to wait until right before dinner to vacuum. Instead of as soon as they were out the door. Dishes had to be done immediately after breakfast so I wouldn’t be loading the dishwasher during one of their live classes.
It was a little difficult getting lunches at different times and keeping track of who had live Zoom classes and when. Parenting during a pandemic, we ended up figuring it out and making a plan together. I would pre-make meals for days we were burnt out on sandwiches, such as egg salad, pasta salad, or tacos. By the fall semester, we had a better routine and schedule in place that worked so much better! And by that time I had a middle schooler and a high schooler, so the school schedules were very different.
Parenting during a pandemic taught me so much about my kids!
I learned more about my kids than I thought possible during this time. As crazy as it sounds I’m thankful they were home during this time. Don’t get me wrong there were days I would have given ANYTHING for them to get back to in-person school. But It has been intriguing seeing how they interact in their classes and with their classmates. Not to mention seeing them academically grow in front of my eyes was just awesome. Some of the scores and charts they show you of their growth at the end of the year made more sense too.
I learned a lot more about what drives them during this time as well. I got to see firsthand what classes they were driven in and how that was connected to other activities they were interested in as well. It was really cool to see them interact in class and how I could help them where needed. And show them how to do better in classes that they weren’t as interested in.
We had a lot of deep conversations while spending so much time together
We had a lot of time together which meant we were able to get to know each other better. A LOT BETTER! I was able to build a closer relationship with my girls and find out a lot more about areas of their life that they hadn’t really shared with me before. Such as some of the reasons they like certain things, classes, or activities. I also learned a lot about their friends!
We had a lot of time on our hands and I had to get creative parenting during a pandemic
I had to get really creative with our time while we were all stuck at home. Like most of us, there was a lot of baking done in my house! Seriously my husband had to tell me to quit buying chocolate chips because we put them in almost any baked good that we could think of. ( FYI Zucchini Bread with chocolate chips is surprisingly good!)
I had an exercise routine while they were in school so I just had them do it with me, and they got bored with it quickly. So I figured they need to be doing something for exercise since they weren’t in GYM class anymore. We tried a few different exercise videos that I found on YouTube and then we ended up just doing Just Dance Videos that we found there.