{"id":139,"date":"2020-07-30T19:44:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T18:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2021-08-16T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T16:06:09","slug":"lockdown-parenting-is-no-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/lockdown-parenting-is-no-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown Parenting is No Joke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LISTEN UP 2020: THE PARENTS ARE NOT OK<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How long has it been now? How long since the Beforetimes<\/em>? That fondly remembered period BC \u2013 Before COVID. You know, when schools and childcare were still a thing. When the streets were busy and the roads weren\u2019t empty. When travel and restaurants and live events were an everyday part of our lives. When supermarkets weren\u2019t one-way warehouses of awkwardness. When we could go out, visit friends, be normal. The real normal, not this unwanted new normal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been inside too long. All of us. We know how hard this is on those on live alone, who are living in bored and lonely solitude \u2013 and we sympathise because no one should be forced to live in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone experiences loneliness and separation differently but there\u2019s no doubt that it can be miserable, and at times like this, full of fear and without hope. The lack of human connection is unnatural to us. It\u2019s not easy and it\u2019s not sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I have two young-ish kids of 8 and 3. I haven\u2019t been alone since March. Sometimes it takes more than 10 seconds for them to unlock the bathroom door and push their way past the makeshift barricades, but no longer than that. And who can blame them? Without school or nursery, without their peers, their teachers and all the other little constants, their lives are much emptier and their worlds don\u2019t feel right. Of course they don\u2019t want to let me out of their sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents of older children and teens aren\u2019t having it much easier. Without their friends, and with their school and social lives out of the picture, these kids are struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the same time, a whole section of society is dealing with an entirely different unprecedented situation. Over here, in the untamed wilds of lockdown family life, those of us with children at home are going through an entirely different type of pain. And honestly, lots of us would probably happily take some of that unwanted isolation right now: because we are now NEVER ALONE.\"Lockdown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ways we mark and acknowledge the passing of time are all on hold. Families with school-age children live by the rolling routine of the academic year. Not this year. Sports teams and swimming lessons are off. Birthday parties are cancelled. These days there is just day and night, a daily walk, and a whole lot of repetition \u2013 although let\u2019s face it, any semblance of meaningful structured routine disappeared weeks ago, alongside toilet paper and pasta. All we have is each other. All the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It takes its toll, all this togetherness. You can have too MUCH human connection.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, many parents are swamped with work \u2013 with jobs that now need to be done from home, amid the chaos and the noise, because of the way the world has shifted. Mum and Dad are busy, and the children feel it, hear it. Other parents are on furlough or out of work and are concerned about their finances and the future. None of this is easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Us parents have heard plenty of opinions along the lines of how we \u201cshouldn\u2019t complain about looking after our own kids\u201d \u2026but I\u2019ve yet to meet anyone who went into parenthood expecting to be locked up at home with their family for months, while being expected to homeschool their offspring and simultaneously carry on their job from home. (Have I mentioned how we\u2019re also never alone? That too.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hear the word unprecedented a lot these days. This enforced style of parenting certainly feels unprecedented, but that doesn\u2019t make it easier in any practical sense. Life has been greatly reduced by lockdown \u2013 our lives have become very small. But the pressure of lockdown parenting is immense. It\u2019s quite literally too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yes, we know this is a marathon, not a sprint. But what we don\u2019t know is whether we\u2019re at mile 2 or mile 20. See you all for medals at the finish line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen up 2020: the parents are not ok. Lockdown parenting is NO joke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12],"tags":[27,28,25,24,26],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","category-life","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-lockdown","tag-parenting","tag-wfh"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":13,"label":"Parenting and Family"},{"value":12,"label":"Life"}],"post_tag":[{"value":27,"label":"coronavirus"},{"value":28,"label":"covid-19"},{"value":25,"label":"lockdown"},{"value":24,"label":"parenting"},{"value":26,"label":"wfh"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/lockdown-parenting-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Almost The Weekend","author_link":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/author\/admin\/"},"comment_info":31,"category_info":[{"term_id":13,"name":"Parenting and Family","slug":"parenting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":13,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Relaxing this weekend? Just kidding, you're a parent! But it is possible to fit in some more downtime. Time to slow things down...it's almost the weekend.","parent":12,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":13,"category_count":4,"category_description":"Relaxing this weekend? Just kidding, you're a parent! But it is possible to fit in some more downtime. Time to slow things down...it's almost the weekend.","cat_name":"Parenting and Family","category_nicename":"parenting","category_parent":12},{"term_id":12,"name":"Life","slug":"life","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":12,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Live your best weekend life with Almost The Weekend. Bring some more weekend feeling into your everyday.","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":12,"category_count":15,"category_description":"Live your best weekend life with Almost The Weekend. Bring some more weekend feeling into your everyday.","cat_name":"Life","category_nicename":"life","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":27,"name":"coronavirus","slug":"coronavirus","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":27,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":28,"name":"covid-19","slug":"covid-19","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":28,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":25,"name":"lockdown","slug":"lockdown","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":25,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":24,"name":"parenting","slug":"parenting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":26,"name":"wfh","slug":"wfh","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":26,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almosttheweekend.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}