Lockdown Learnings: What I learnt in 2020

I’ll be honest here: 2020 has been a mixed year for me. While the lockdown(s) drove me a tad crazy with:

• Homeschooling
• Managing to keep this blog and my other work going amidst entertaining a bored six-year-old and providing him 47,000 snacks everyday
• Cooking meal after meal after meal
• Realising Hubster was going crazy being indoors which in turn was driving us all crazy

It was also nice because:

• I had so much extra time with Little Man (it felt like the baby and toddler days before he started nursery and school, when it was just him and me throughout the day), and although I did go batshit crazy on most days, I secretly treasured this time. Kids need to have a pause button on them!
• There were no real deadlines to be met, places to be or things to get ticked off the list – and even if there were, we could do them at ease, in our PJs. The slower pace of life as opposed to the daily hustle and bustle was a nice break.

And while i wouldn’t wish Covid had reared it’s ugly head in the first place, taking lives and livelihoods from people, I am grateful that my family and I managed to survive the year intact. There were a few scares along the way, but I have nothing to complain about. And for that I will be forever grateful. Fingers crossed.

So, with all its ups and downs and highs and lows, 2020 was quite a year. Of learnings and revelations as well. Here are some of my ‘Lockdown Learnings’ from the strangest year that was…

Homeschooling

I always wondered why parents would choose to homeschool their children. I mean I love my child but boy do I enjoy the time he’s at school! Not to mention the actual teaching bit… why? Why? Why? And now that I got a proper taste of it in 2020, I know for sure that it is NOT for me. Little Man nor I just do not have that kind of patience and discipline. In my son’s own words: You’re an awesome mummy but you’re not so nice as a teacher!!!

However, on a positive note, i did master some tricks of the trade and I managed to make it work. Despite all the tantrums and tears from both parties involved, we submitted all our weekly assignments and completed all our daily work (on time) and his current class teacher told me she’s not noticed a gap in his learning at all. Woo hoo! I take that as a huge win! If you want to be prepared for the next (possible) lockdown, then here are my tried-and-tested tips to make homeschooling work.

Colouring my own hair

I’ve had strands of grey since almost a decade now and i’ve been touching up my roots since a couple of years. In the salon. I couldn’t be bothered to do it at home. Until the strands of grey became irritatingly visible during the lockdown and I took matters into my own hands. The salons then opened up but I stuck to my roots (literally) and have been doing them at home ever since. It doesn’t take as much time or effort as I thought and it is so much cheaper!

I finally joined the ‘gram’

Yes, 2020 has been a good year for me work wise. I took the Instagram plunge in June in the thick of the lockdown and haven’t looked back since! I’m loving it as a platform – a visual medium with scope for long, meaningful captions – and my only regret is that I wish I had signed up earlier! Well, better late than never, right? Here’s my handle incase you want to have a look – Instagram.com/talesfrommamaville

Experiments in the kitchen

Those who know me well enough know the kitchen is the last place I like to be. But I have surprised myself this past year experimenting with things I never imagined I’d ever make. Like apple chutney and fresh apple juice from apples in my backyard. Or srikhand (an Indian dessert). I baked cakes and made cookies. So. Not. Me.

Realised I can do craft!

I’m not the Pinterest-perfect crafty mum, but when you’re stuck at home for over half the year and have exhausted every other form of entertainment (apart from the telly and Nintendo and i-pad – Little Man can never have enough of those), you bring out the craft box. But for the first time I actually enjoyed our craft sessions together and realised I’m not as bad as I assumed. Of course, I didn’t attempt a model of Jurassic Park or a replica of the Marvel Universe, but I was pretty kicked with my stick men and loo roll figures!

Psst… for some out-of-the-box ideas on stuff to do with kids when stuck indoors, have a read of this post.

Taught Little Man to ride his bike

This has got to be our BIGGEST lockdown achievement – after months and many failed attempts, tears and fears and a lot of under-the-breath swearing from Hubster and me, Little Man FINALLY learnt to ride his bike!

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Confessions of a Crummy Mummy