I feel so powerless.
The last few weeks in isolation have been stressful but one of the biggest factors of that stress is watching how upset lockdown is making my children.
I’ve watched my toddler cry as she watched from the window as relatives dropped off Easter Eggs in the garden but couldn’t come inside. I’ve watched my seven-year-old cry when he realised the extended lockdown meant he would not be returning to school this term.
This week has made the whole situation even more heartbreaking as I plan a birthday celebration for my son I know that no one can attend.
I know it sounds silly to try and have any sort of birthday event at the moment but it’s the only thing I can think to do right now to bring back a sense of normality into our lives.
He was really looking forward to his birthday this year so I don’t want to disappoint him by doing nothing but I also know it’s not really what he wanted.
He wanted his friends to come, he wanted his grandparents to come, but that can’t happen. We can get some people on video call but that’s it and I know it’s eating him up inside.
Usually as a parent there’s something we can do but we’re living through a global pandemic so what can we do?
Today I received an email from his school. I was expecting it but it was hard all the same.
My son was due to make his communion this summer but of course the school has made the decision not to go ahead with any communions or confirmations this year.
While I know he felt sad when we had to cancel a holiday we had planned, losing his birthday and communion hurts more. They meant something different.
Losing those occasions has completely changed the year for him in a way cancelling other things hadn’t. They meant everyone he loved coming together and knowing they won’t happen is just another reminder that he has to be separated from them.
Getting to talk to his teacher on the phone recently helped a little. She said that all of the other children in his class are suffering with the same separation anxiety.
We’re living through historic times and I know his birthday this year will be unlike any birthday he will have ever again.
As parents we can only try our best right now, but there’s no guidebook for what we should do.
Right now I feel completely out of my depth and I really wish I could do more to make this situation better for my children. I just hope it can all be resolved sooner rather than later.
