We asked a mum of one of our families at Dundonald Church to write a blog about what life is like for her and her family in lockdown
#1 – 04/04/20 – Adjusting to a new normal!
Hi, I’m a mum at Dundonald, and we have 3 children, one at high school, 2 at our local primary, at least they were till 2 weeks ago! My husband normally works from home and I’m privileged to be a stay at home mum, though we’d have both been out of the house a lot more than we are now. My husband is now using one child’s bedroom as his office, while we all use the dining room (which was previously his office) as our learning space.
In our family, some of us actually quite like being at home a lot while others of us prefer to be more active and sociable, but for all of us, being in the same space for a bigger proportion of our week than we are normally is challenging and there’s just more conflict going on.
“Its been helpful to be reminded that everyone’s
learning a new way of doing things”
In the first week of lockdown I felt like life slowed down a lot, with no school runs, no travelling to activities, lots of things getting cancelled (and to be honest I think I just hunkered down trying to adapt to having everyone at home all the time!).
We struggled to get to grips with the online learning platforms (still doing that) and I battled to accept that they would have to sit in front of a screen for a lot longer than I was happy with. We had frustrations with our computers (though we are grateful we’ve kept hold of old laptops with temperamental keys) and with wanting things to work perfectly and for us to get up to speed immediately. We don’t like the slow learning process of this. And we’re pretty bad at waiting. I’ve found it stressful when they all need help at the same time, especially since the help they need is generally tech related, and I often don’t know any more than they do.
My big need…
It’s been helpful to be reminded that everyone’s learning a new way of doing things. But my big need at the moment is to remember that the Lord is much more concerned with how I love him and love my husband and children than whether I get through my To Do List.
The actual schoolwork has been OK (since my children are keen to please their teachers even if they’re not very willing to accept instruction from me), and to be honest I wasn’t mainly concerned about what they were doing, more that we had some kind of structure. Too much unstructured time means more conflict in our house.
Everything keeps going on Zoom!
Last week it felt like life was getting busier again as more of our activities have started up via zoom or skype. Amazingly, music lessons and even hockey training have been possible! I am organizing zoom chats rather than playdates, and attending zoom groups from the sofa.
I’m hoping that this blog will be sharing some of the joys and struggles we’re experiencing in this unprecedented (to use the word of the moment) time, which might be similar or different to what others are experiencing! I suspect I’m going to find it easier to write about the struggles than the blessings, so I should mention a few of the silver linings – like that I am loving not having to make packed lunches every day 😉 and that now that we’ve adjusted a little the kids seem less tired than normal. We’ve been able to have family bible time more consistently after dinner, and it has been encouraging seeing our older two doing bible study with their friends on zoom.
“If God is sovereign (which He is) and God is loving (which He is)
then he must have good purposes for each of us in this crisis”
I’m so aware that my sinful heart is very much on show at home at the moment. I guess it’s always the case that our families see the worst and that we can manage to put on a good front when we’re out of the house, but it’s uncomfortable to be confronted by it so much because we’re with each other so much of the time. If God is sovereign (which He is) and God is loving (which He is) then he must have good purposes for each of us in this crisis, and I’m praying that he would be growing us all in Christlikeness in this time.
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For more family-related media please head to dundonald.org/family- devotionals, or please email us any feedback or encouragements!
natasha.small@dundonald.org
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