I Need a Break!

Does anybody think about the stress of mothers in lockdown?

It has been four months to date. Kids are at home 24/7. Their tantrums and my rant, a never-ending cycle. They have no outlet, neither do I. They have no playdates. Well! I have no meet up with friends either. They do their homework online and after a long workday, they watch a movie on tv. They talk to their friends on zoom and play video games. How in the world am I supposed to control their screen time?

Yes, I try my best to take them out every day for a walk but for how long? mostly just for an hour that too when it is not raining.

We try to keep our routine as normal as possible by getting up in time and starting with our school work on time. Every day is a new battle, the kids know they don't have to go to school so they are always shouting mama just five more minutes in bed which turns in to half an hour until mama loses her temper and the children are at last at the breakfast table.

There is no rush at breakfast, unlike usual school days. Breakfast is dragged until monster mama shows up again and the kids finally get down to their school work. Now it is time for mom to turn into a teacher and explain all the concepts ranging from maths to chemistry depending upon the year group of the children.

For younger ones, their concentration span is too short with breaks every 15 minutes to snacks on the hour, a schoolday turns in to a battlefield.

Then there is my elder daughter who is starting her GCSE, that is a whole different struggle. I don't even want to start explaining it because that will only make me look like an idiot. Not that I will leave any of you in doubt.

So the day carries on in these initial hours of the day I have to efficiently perform the role of a cook, clean the house, do the dishes, put the clothes in for washing along with the teaching efforts and off course controlling the kid's tantrums as my husband is at his makeshift office in the next room doing his very important official meetings.

Next comes playtime. My younger one always needs someone to play with him, but the newbie teenager is always too bored to do anything.

So I divide my time between playing with my son and doing something “not boring” with my daughter.

Yes, very rarely they do play together but 90 percent of the time it ends up in a clash with mommy monster showing up again.

It feels like I'm juggling too many things at the same time without any break.

Form keeping the kids quiet for official meetings to the point where my husband thinks the neighbors might pop in to wash their hands if I don’t lower my voice, it is all getting a bit too much to handle.

This comes from a mother who has food in her fridge and no worries about the future. After writing this rant, for a moment I just paused and thought about all those mothers who are struggling to put food on their table or who might be unwell. I can't help but feel selfish about the whole issue.

We need to be there for each other. As a first step, I called some of my mommy friends and some mothers from my kid's school to check on them. They all had the same story to tell with some different descriptions.

If you are a mommy struggling in lockdown. I am just writing to let you know you are not alone. We are all in this together.

You are doing a great job mommy!