Pandemic Parenting: A Few Thoughts
When all of the lockdowns started, I thought my life wouldn’t change much. I’m a stay at home mom, and honestly, I don’t go out often. Between naps, playing, exploring food, and attempting to keep a presentable home, finding the time (and energy) to pack up and get out of the house is a challenge. Grocery runs, the weekly gym class for my son, and CrossFit are my main outings pre-pandemic. Throw in random play dates here and there, and that’s my life. None of that changed all that drastically in the past six months that we’ve been in this. My son’s gym and my gym closed for a month or two, but they reopened as quickly as they could, and we’ve continued going. We still go to the grocery store because this kid can eat like a teenage boy. We have a few friends that we’ve continued to see for play dates and the occasional parent’s night out. But everything feels different. The world as a whole feels different.
Being a parent in this time is overwhelming. No matter what choice you make, you’re wrong. You take your kid to the grocery store with you? You’re a horrible parent for exposing him. You leave your kid at home? You’re a terrible parent for sheltering your child. You have dinner with your parents or in-laws? You’re irresponsible for having a small family gathering. You go to a play group or educational class for your child? How could you?! My son isn’t of school age, but that’s another area where no matter what choice you make – in person or virtual schooling – you are deemed a bad mom. No matter your decision, no matter the time you spend weighing pros and cons, no matter what personal choices you make for you and your family, you’re a horrible, terrible, irresponsible excuse of a parent.
In reality, I don’t know that parenting now is really any different from any other time. It would seem – at least in comment sections and mom forums – that the path of parenthood has always been one to be littered with highly polarizing judgements. But now, everything is heightened. Everything is more extreme, and we are all more sensitive, anxious, and isolated. Never before have I thought so hard about if I have the energy to put up with the judgey stares I get walking around with my son in the stroller at the grocery store.
My life on paper hasn’t changed, but it’s all completely different.
