Parul Kala handles her home, children and a changed scenario under Covid-19 with as much positivity as one can muster. She talks about what Mother’s Day 2020 means for her.
The year 2020 shall be a very special year as Mother’s Days go in our memories, for a number of reasons, the most important one being of course that the entire world is experiencing an unprecedented lockdown because of the Covid 19 pandemic.
I’m blessed with two children - son Dev with Down’s Syndrome is14 years old and daughter Neha is 9 years old. My husband is a huge support but he is presently locked down in Singapore where he is currently based. So I am left to singlehandedly manage my home which also includes my mom, my two dogs and Dev’s nanny ( didi who’s looked after him since birth ), together with, of course, a lot of online support from my husband. I have faced Covid 19 with the same attitude that I have in life: I need to first manage myself well. Other things will then fall in place..
MY STRESSES
The common stresses that I faced : Neha’s online school lessons and assignments, Dev’s online lessons, my mom’s needs, my two dogs and household chores. Two factors weighed me down the most- the underlying need to stay safe due to Dev’s vulnerability to respiratory infections, and my old mum who is just recovering from the recent loss of my dad.
STRESS BUSTERS
How do I go about reducing my stress levels? Just because everyone is at home all the time does not mean it’s only my responsibility to take care of everyone. What a wonderful opportunity to make everyone more responsible for themselves. So my daughter is now able to handle the laptop, setting up zoom or MS teams for her lessons, doing assignments almost completely by herself, doing well in music lessons and generally managing her time pretty well without constantly asking for my help.
Dev is actually quite happy being home, getting good food, playing his music and enjoying school tasks online. He needs his didi’s help with setting up the class but he’s become confident about learning through FaceTime where earlier he shied away from the camera face in a social situation.
THE NEW NORMAL
These tough times have also taught me a valuable lesson : when circumstances change, adapt. In fact, my children have been very good at it.They have embraced the new normal with such ease that I realised I was stressing over stuff like their inability to step outdoors, unnecessarily. So far, they are well settled enjoying family life and real quality time at home instead of running off to malls and restaurants every weekend.
I also discovered I have more time on my hand. I am a trained yoga teacher and was struggling to find time to attend classes at the Gurgaon centre due to timings and distance issues. Suddenly I found myself being able to do a daily class online and attend several courses that were just beamed down to my home. What a blessing in disguise. I actually was able to spend up to three hours daily doing yoga. This has made me stronger and relaxed mentally and physically. It also inspires my family to live simply and be disciplined.
This Mother’s Day I look forward to stepping out into a fresh new world where nature has refreshed herself, we have all learnt to live with less, we are more healthy, there is less desire for things to be as they were, we have all moved on in our own way. Most importantly, one must take care of oneself before trying to take care of the rest of the world.
As a mother 2020 has been a wonderful opportunity to bring up kids in a truly changing world where they have the opportunity to be less fearful and more equipped to handle change by thinking for themselves.
Be more kind and loving towards other living creatures and be responsible citizens towards their home. They also see me going out to feed stray animals on the Main Street and to them it’s just something one does.
Most importantly they can now appreciate family love and family dynamics and their role in the functioning of it.
