After the, seemingly frolic, one day lock down on the 22nd of March, Sunday from 7am to 9pm, where citizens came to their windows and started clapping and banging utensils as a gesture of appreciation to all the health and government servants, just 3 days later the second most populous country in the world has been fenced in – India is on lockdown for 21 days, up until 14th April 2020. This year has been cursed. As cliched as it may sound, we are truly living in an apocalyptic episode of ‘Black Mirror’.
This video is from 22nd March 5pm, when all citizens came at their windows banging utensils AND/OR clapping
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister, made this decisive move on 24th March addressing the nation in a tight televised speech at 8pm. After the speech there was pandemonium on the streets. The general public just assumed that all essentials and food will be unavailable.
Even Nadir went down to get bread and came back empty-handed because the crowd came out in droves and it was just too dangerous. Obviously things went back to normal the next day and the essentials were available. But when you are a parent things don’t go back to normal overnight.
Engaging your child
When you are at work for 8-9 hours it is easier to engage your child(ren). Both want each other’s company and unload their day’s goings and comings.
But when there is no break from the child, you tend to break, mentally and physically. You will try every trick in the book and internet to engage your 3 to 4 year old –
– drawing
– writing
– DIY
– screen time – Honestly all the regimented rules have been thrown out of the window. As long as the child is calm and watching her favourite shows, educational apps, we don’t care.
– game time – Nadir Pop’s daughter has learnt UNO and insists that she will win every time the cards are dealt.
– story time
– bed time
– eat time
– miscellaneous: Getting your child to wash her scooter because hygiene and whatever other time that you make up.
But you are also cooking up ideas to escape them just for a couple of hours (don’t lie YOU want to run away).
It doesn’t make you a bad parent but it sure as hell makes you a frustrated one. These are unprecedented times no one AND. WE. MEAN. NO. ONE has a manual for this situation. You learn, you make mistakes, you cry, the kids cry and you start all over again. It’s just been 24 hours.
No School
We made it amply clear that this is NOT A HOLIDAY. The school has shut down. The school is canceled so that the child understands the difference in the emotional value of a holiday and a canceled event, they are not the same. As a parent it gives us better control to restart the journey back to school once it resumes.
The Pop Children
COVID-19 is already riding up our backs and you have reached a stage of strange, unexperienced paranoia. But the feeling only accentuates when your child is already ill with the flu (or is it). This is something that Nadir Pop experienced with his daughter every time she sneezed, or her temperature wavered he was thinking “Is this how Coronavirus enters our lives? through my 3.5 year old kid”. It’s like a horror film you don’t want to be in.
Peter Pop’s son had to celebrate his 3rd birthday within four walls. Alone. With his Parents. That’s an experience no kid should go through, but it’s happening.
People have gone off the streets that is amply evident. Indians do not understand social space, for them to stick to each other in queues and lines is socially acceptable, nobody will bat an eyelid, including the person who is getting a full body touch, hence social distancing is something that just doesn’t need to be practiced but educated first. And people have started distancing.
We all need to sit tight and watch the world go round as it goes through this self-cleaning cycle
Have a listen to this Lockdown episode of Pops in a Pod and let us know what you think. If you have an interesting story to share about your experiences of parenting 24/7 from home then write to us on popsinapod@gmail.com and maybe we will invite you as a guest on our podcast.
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