A new perspective
How Covid has helped me look again at the world around me.
The Covid-19 lockdown in the UK has been a strange time for us all, I imagine in lots of ways. Like many, being isolated from friends and family has been a trial and a challenge. The days have felt rather “Groundhog Day-esque” (LOVE that film), especially as the weekends had nothing in them to break up the rhythm of the week.
But in many ways I can already see the unexpected benefits that have come about from us having more time together in the house and garden. Left to our own devices without the "distractions" of playgroups, friend meet-ups and church gatherings, I’ve had to be rather more self-sufficient when it comes to occupying the children, and it’s taught me a thing or two. (For the record, we dearly miss our friend meet-ups, church and playgroups.)
I've thought a lot about what things matter most to me, and what I want to spend my time doing. Lockdown coincided with a key moment in my life, namely that I finished maternity leave for what I expect will be the last time and yet, rather than returning to work, I found myself transferred onto furlough.
Along with the rest of the nation we were flung into a new way of living and I couldn’t escape noticing the strange paradox. During a global pandemic lockdown, we (me and the kids) found ourselves spending more time together outside. If Covid hadn't have happened I'd have been rushing them to nursery each morning and then heading into the office for the day. Instead, we were outside every morning by 8am (yes, 8am) getting our daily exercise and exploring our neighbourhood.
Did we “homeschool”? Maybe in the loosest sense. I’ll be eternally thankful to Five Minute Mum for her tips on keeping the kids occupied whilst teaching them the odd thing or two about numbers and letters. Mainly, we played (which is what Five Minute Mum advocates anyway). Oh and we watched CBeebies, obviously.
When life slowed down for us I stopped and looked around.
What a refreshing thing it was for me to realise that I didn't have to nag them to hurry on up. We had nowhere we needed to be! We hid behind trees, watched snails inching along walls, and spotted butterflies flitting from flower to flower. In the absence of the play parks, we played “follow the leader” along pavements, and clambered on muddy rocks in areas of the park we'd never noticed before. We enjoyed seeing nature right on our doorstep, and feeling more connected with it.
So this new outlook has spurred me on to start consciously seeking out ways to connect my little family with our world. We’re a city bunch, but that won’t perturb me. There’s still plenty interesting things hiding on our doorstep in Manchester.
My hope and prayer is that, together, the kids and I will learn about our wonderful world around us, and that will instill a desire in them as they grow up to look after it for the next generation.