When quarantine was announced like everyone, we had our plans but unfortunately for us life had other ideas. Overnight our child care went from five days a week to none due to the closing of our nursery for all including key workers children, with both me and my partner been classed as key workers this caused a bit of a panic of what we are going to do with our daughter during working day hours and next to no time or resources to figure out and put a backup plan together, I spend the following days and sleepless nights stressing and going though positives and negatives of every and all situations trying to figure out what we are going to have to do to make it work for everyone when I would have preferred to have spent some of this time sleeping, It had exhausted me.
With the guidelines of social distancing the options we would usually have like grandparents and friends had been out of the question for looking after our daughter, the nursey my daughter goes during the day is now closed, the cat not taking well to childcare and both of us working full time we just couldn't think of anything that would be possible using what we had available and keeping everyone happy safe and healthy.
After a couple of days and sleepless nights we luckily had some much needed help to create a plan of action that split between me and my partner gave us enough time to juggle everything we needed and it was only made possible by mine and my partners colleagues been understanding and flexible with our situation and helping us with every step of the planning, and I know this has not been possible for everyone going through this and for the help and support I received from people during this process I am eternally grateful.
So although lock down for me has been very busy and had its stressful start it has had its benefits, I'm getting to spend more precious time bonding with my young daughter that I usually wouldn’t have and I am getting to watching her grow and develop more and more every day, although it's not always easy been locked indoors with a demanding and noisy 2 year old the positives far outweigh any negatives to this, it's amazing getting to watching how fast she is growing and I am truly enjoying this new time we are getting to spend together.
The lock down has also put in perspective of how lucky I am for the network of close friends and family and how they are always there for us when we/I need them and that I may take for granted the support, opportunities and time they are able to give me.
On a side note, I have also spent far too long listening to children’s TV in the background, I now know word for word at least the first two seasons of Peppa Pig!
Andy Braddick
