Looking after two children: wellbeing during lockdown

I haven’t posted in a while, since lockdown and looking after the two kids full time means there is little to no free time. Carrying baby in the sling, whilst doing art activities, baking, making meals and reading to my four year old makes me feel very much like a housewife! I am going to share some of the ups and downs of quarantine life. Even though it is tough at times, overall spending more time with my children has made me appreciate them even more. Plus I do love cooking, so that’s a bonus! 

My evenings during lockdown have involved a mixture of activity planning for my four year old, meal planning for the family, and trying to keep up to date with medical and healthcare changes related to covid. 

Keeping in touch with friends and family has also been of the utmost importance to us all a a family. We do a video call once or twice a week with one of my daughter’s friends. It’s hard for her to engage fully with people on the video, but some relaxed play is developing ast he weeks go by. I personally feel really uplifted after having a chat with a friend on the weekend, it feels like a welcome break from routine and contact with the outside world, albeit in a very different way to before.

Once a week, my antenatal group meets via zoom. It’s lovely to see how the babies are growing up, and have some time to talk baby! I think new parents are especially at risk of being isolated during these times, and I feel lucky to have a group of mums to chat to. We also have a whatsap group, so can send messages and photos to support each other. 

We try to keep fit by doing a variety of fun activities. I love doing workouts with baby in the sling, mainly because I haven’t managed to get him to sleep for long naps in the cot, but also the added weight helps build my strength. My personal favourites are carifit (which you can stream for free online on YouTube ) and Latinobambino. My daughter used to go to ballet classes, which have now moved online. 

We are very lucky to be able to attend these, but there is  good wealth of resources free on YouTube also. Zumba kids, yoga for kids, and little kickers are some of our favourites. We love to dance in our house, so have been learning about a new dance style each week or so. So far: Bollywood, kathak, tango, samba and hip hop! It’s also fun dressing up and my daughter loves to look for my old dance costumes to try on!

We also do some reading practice every day. I love mrs wordsmith, as very engaging. Just spending time reading and practice phonics each day after lunch for 15 minutes has made so much difference to her reading skills.