This whole parenting during a pandemic thing is getting pretty old. It’s been about four months of us not really going out in public or seeing our friends besides an occasional outdoor visit. The kids haven’t seen their friends in person in months. We are all feeling the stress of life not being normal. As a mom, I often feel that I am failing. I get irritated and impatient with the kids at times. The house is a mess. I have guilt for when I have to work. I worry that I’m not spending enough time with the kids when at the same time just wishing I had 5 minutes to myself. Any of this feel familiar? Well I’m here to tell you that you are not failing. We are all trying our best to do what is best for our families and it’s not always a pretty picture.
I’ve heard the saying “we are all in the same boat” when it comes to this whole pandemic situation, but recently someone pointed out the flaw in this phrase. We are not in fact all in the same “boat.” We are all in the same storm, but not all in the same boat. Some of us are sailing along more or less perfectly fine in a yacht while others are trying desperately to keep their canoe from sinking because it has a hole in it and somewhere along the way we have lost the paddles. Each of us are in different situations and no two situations are exactly the same.
We are all trying. Trying to make it through this odd and stressful situation while trying to maintain an ounce of sanity. The thought of homeschooling/ virtual learning with 3 children all in 3 different grade levels is exhausting just to think about. I’ve been trying to do some “school time” each day with my kids just so when we start the process in August it’s not a complete and utter shock to them. Just the other day while trying to simultaneously work with all 3 kids on different activities I absolutely lost it with the dog. I was already under a lot of stress that day and trying to homeschool was not going well. The dogs have been inside a lot more lately since it’s super hot outside here in Texas. They generally aren’t allowed upstairs but our dog Homer doesn’t really abide by those rules. It was too quiet and I hadn’t seen him in a while. I peeked my head outside of our homeschool room and there before my eyes, the children’s beloved Olaf stuffed life size doll was being violated by my dog. Not only had he humped the poor stuffed animal, he had also peed ALL Over it! I was livid. Now I had to not only stop what I was doing with homeschooling, but had to go do yet another load of laundry. I yelled at Homer so bad that he took off down the stairs and hid from me for the next hour. I definitely lost my temper and was pretty loud as I chased him away from Olaf. Moments later I got a horrifying text from my husband who works from home. “I’m on a call and we can all hear you yelling.”
He had left his office door open to better circulate the air in the room. Not only was he on a zoom call, he was in a zoom call presenting in front of a bunch of other directors. I felt so embarrassed. I blame the dog.
So, just incase you were feeling like a terrible parent, we are all in this together. We all make mistakes and fail from time to time, but that does not make us failures. Remember, you are trying and that’s what counts. And also remember, that people who are not in your house may be able to hear you, so don’t embarrass yourself like me.