If the Pandemic Didn’t Break You as Parent, You Are Capable of Anything

And for me, it’s only now after some time has passed that I can truly look back and appreciate that.

We were expected to act ordinary during extraordinary circumstances, and that wasn’t reasonable. Parents were suddenly home all day, acting as parent, teacher, chef, housekeeper, and overall superhero. Those of us who were working from home had to fight to carve out time and space for ourselves to get any work done. Kids were home from school without the ability to see friends and family or even go to the park. It would have been expected to lose our cool.

What matters is that we made it through that time in one piece and are still smiling, keeping our heads up with high with hopes for the future, and proudly looking back, realizing that we made it through such a challenging time.

Now, I’m going to be honest. I had my moments. When we were first put on lockdown here in Italy, where I live with my family, I spent the first two weeks crying for a good part of the day, though I always did so in private. I didn’t want anyone to know how truly scared I was. I especially didn’t want my then 16-month-old daughter to pick up on anything. Yes, we all had our bad moments and we were allowed to, after all, we’re only human.

When I broke down one morning over breakfast, it was because I was holding it all in and not admitting my feelings to anyone. But once I voiced my fears to my family, I was able to move on and accept this moment for what it was — a challenge. And it was up to me to decide how I was going to handle it. And I decided I was up for the challenge.

Something that kept me cool and calm during such a trying period was my daughter. I took note of all the positive changes she made in three short months. It was during the pandemic that she started walking and feeding herself, spoke her first words in Italian and English, began helping me perform chores around the house and grew more independent and confident of herself. We created so many wonderful family memories during a time when we needed them most, and during a time when it would have been so easy to just give up or lose hope.

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We managed to keep it together when everything about the future was so uncertain. As parents, we had so many obstacles in our way: financial distress, job insecurity, and wondering if our children would ever be able to go back to school safely. I really believe that living through this pandemic has shown us we’re must stronger than we realize, both as individuals and as parents.

The pandemic is behind us, for the most part. We’ve managed to slowly put back the puzzle pieces of our lives and return to a new kind of normal. We’re back to traveling and living life the way it was always meant to be lived.

If, as parents, we were able to get through the pandemic, we can get through anything parenting may throw our way. The terrible twos, the defiant pre-teen, the sassy teen, college applications, heck, even boyfriends and girlfriends. This pandemic tested our parenting in ways that no one could imagine. In a strange way, I’m grateful for what the pandemic has taught us. It has shown me that we’re pretty much capable of anything. And you know what? We really are.