In the year 2020 when covid hit everything that was once a familiar routine or activity changed completely.

As a SAHM I had to learn to adapt to the new changes. I remember receiving the news that lock down will come into effect on 21st March and this was my sons birthday- we had made plans to treat him and his siblings to an amusement park called Thomas the train in Liverpool. It seemed like an ideal activity for them to do as I had pre-booked their tickets at least two months prior to his special day.

Unfortunately as his birthday celebrations arrived we settled for a little party indoors as a family. On the birthday morning we greeted him with a celebratory “birthday song” followed by the cutting of his cake as he could not wait to unwrap his pressies.

The day went on well , as we then decided to take a family walk around the Westport Lake. As a parent I was sad that we could not provide the party and celebration our son deserved, but looking at his jolly mood and gesture of gratitude repeatedly saying… thank you mommy and daddy was all it took to change my perspective.

While I pondered of how the day turned out, I thought vividly about the simplicity of his birthday celebration despite the sudden change of birthday plans we had arranged for him and the happiness in his tiny voice to how his birthday celebration turned out for me was the icing on the cake.

While covid brought a lot of changes to our family routine, we tried our best to see the positive from this. We were all learning to adapt to the change, as this meant, no school, possibly no work for their dad and being indoors for who knows how long ?

My husband and I tried to work out a regime that our kids could grab hold of while we were all stuck indoors. Our mornings featured family exercises with the famous “Joe Wicks” and so morning workouts became an exciting element of our day.

As a parent, especially SAHM you think inquisitively as to what are some things you will do? And how to follow through with the plans. I was always at home and so the transition of lockdown was plausible for me. Yes at the back of my mind, I pray intently about my husbands work? Would he still be employed and would we have enough to cater to our needs. So it was an experience of mixed emotions when the changes coming about meant I neither my husband was in control anymore.

While the older two children were manageable the baby of the family still needed bottle milk and she was taking SMA as a supplement as she declined breast milk at three months old, so I could not think of anything else rather to just give God all my concerns in that moment.

That afternoon, as my husband got home from work he brought a letter from work confirming that lockdown will not affect his job working on the roads and that the company he works for has been categorised as an “essential worker” this meant that during lockdown he was still required to work- although I was sad he would not be home often with the kids and I.

I breathed a sigh of relief and quickly remembered that I needed to go quietly to my bedroom to offer a thanksgiving prayer. Everything about not knowing this course of change was concerning and although I wanted very much to be in control, the change led me to trust God for my husbands work and the provision that our little family will receive during lockdown.

In the three months since the lockdown, children of “essential workers”were informed that they could attend school- and so with that opportunity my eldest child went back to school again while the younger two siblings stayed home with me. This was helpful that she attended class because as the older one, I was struggling to keep her entertained indoors, most days her reply would be mommy I’m bored. I was so grateful that she went back to classes as it meant she would be with her class mates and have child interaction as well.

If anything lockdown taught me a lot about myself I did not know. The full attention to three children being home full time and needing my love, care and attention is necessary. I can’t say I did it all by myself as I needed God for every part of my day, even in the obscene moments too.

As I write this, it is now exactly three years on since covid and the lockdown experiences has taught me more about parenting;

1. Time management making sure their food is ready on meal times and being a time keeper

2. Lotu time (family devotions) a time to sit and pray together as a family. We try to incorporate worship and a little banter for our kids praise and the children love testimony time. While my eldest daughter is fluent with expressing herself, her younger brother beams with Thank you Jesus, Amen.

3.How to organise my children in-regards to daily activities like crafts, play, colouring and toys

4. Set a routine time for bed and make sure you stick to the time, children need to sleep on time, and I decided that I would not encourage gadgets prior to bedtime as I noticed it took long for my eldest to tone down for bed. So I cut off social media access and chose not to encourage them with a phone, tablet, or tv in their bedroom for the fear of staying up way past bedtime.

5. Laundry days, ironing the washed laundry, and putting it to their clothes container -my children to not own drawers -so all their clothing are listed and organised separately according to their names and sizes.

6. Having a routine helps a parent too. When my children get in bed, it gave me the time to have a nice cool shower, do a pedicure or manicure and have a little read before bedtime. I had to do a doable routine that would fit for me and my three little people.

Please don’t get my listing wrong, there are days I did absolutely nothing and it helped too. The toys would scatter around the living room, the dishes would remain in the kitchen counter, the laundry would have to wait when my children needed me.

As much as the mess scared me, it waited until the evening when they were all in bed, the OCD in me struggled to adapt to these changes, but by Gods grace he helped me to enjoy the simplicity of mothering and also the struggles of it without me trying to over react to the things that seemed rather a burden for me when the house was not clean or organised.

Alexa became a part of our daily routine, she was helpful for time keeping, alarms, reminders, GP appointments and of course Christian music to help soothe my kids to bed during their bedtime. Alexa is a life saver and she has become a friend to my children although she is a talking machine.

Change coming abruptly may not be reciprocated well, in my experience here it taught me about how positive I can be when a situation I am put into can either encourage me or not. As change can seem demeaning, I would like to think that in this situation i was schooled suddenly and my perspective to mothering at home and fulfilling my role as a wife helped me to understand that I can only do my bit and the constant reliance on God evoked so much gratitude in me.

Change is good, but change too can either make or break you, the choice is yours when it comes to change.

Love & Light

C x