Being a parent during COVID is no easy task especially being a single parent during COVID, and now throw in Autism for good measure.
I would like to thank Angie for coming up with this idea to write about parenting and the challenges it faces during COVID.
Some Back Story
I don't even have anything I can say here as this has been a first for me and a lot of people I know. Perhaps if I knew someone who was a parent for 1918 I could put in some back story; however, since I don't this is all there is going to be as far as the back story goes I'm afraid.
The End of Days
Well, it certainly felt like it some days. Luckily it wasn't and isn't the end of days. For my two boys, it almost was the end of days as they both had birthdays one month into lockdown. They turned 13 and 11 at a time when we weren't able to go out and do much of anything. We couldn't go to the movies or to the pool, or even bowling. It really was kind of a letdown as far as birthday activities were to go; however, their gift out of all of this was no school for months and having an extended spring/summer break. Lucky kids.
As a parent of these lucky kids who now have no school and no routines what are you to do? Really parenting before COVID was pretty difficult sometimes. I know as a single parent I found it to be difficult at the best of times even though my kids are pretty easygoing.
Through the summer things were pretty easy to figure out as to what we were going to do as it was sunny and hot out pretty well all summer of 2020 so we hung out at the local beach and splash parks. Lots of fun and we kept cool while keeping our appropriate amount of social distance from other families trying to do the same things. Needless to say, we ended up doing a lot of outdoorsy things during the summer, which wasn't a huge change for us. The big change was dad was home more and the kids were home more as well so it took a little more to get out and do things and not getting stuck in the staying home routine.
On comes winter and colder weather. This is a time of year where I struggle anyway to find things to do, and this year wasn't much more of an exception except we couldn't even go to the mall for the yearly Santa photo. Luckily there are video games and tons of movies and shows to watch and everyone was back to a somewhat normal routine of school and work, which took some pressure off.
Through all of this, we caught up on some projects that we had planned on getting done and making the most out of our extra time together. I learned more about my kids as I got destress from the job I had and getting to be more present with what was going on.
Don't Panic
The one thing that really impresses me with my kids during all of this is how calm and cool they are through everything that is going on. They ask questions we discuss, they have concerns we discuss, and they are really going with the flow of everything. I know there are a lot of adults that aren't' coping well and my kids are taking it all at stride.
Too many people out there are panicking and getting overly worked up... and for what? All this fear and anxiety inducing behaviour isn't doing anyone any good. You know who suffers from this? You, and your children. Especially the children as they are learning this behaviour from their parents.
So parents, take a chill pill, or go soak in the bath with some candles and wine. Do what you need to to keep calm and talk to your kids in a calm rational way and they will be alright. Kids are adaptable, way more than us adults. This is normal to them, and new and scary to us kind of.
Now I am not saying be reckless. I am saying take precautions but keep calm and everyone will come out ahead.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Ride Hard and Live Long.
Sincerely,
Rob Hicks
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