Home, not alone: Relaunch

And in bluntly forcing him comply to the new rules, I wasn’t helping his wellbeing. 

So, for these five weeks, we’ll do it differently.  

I get, and really appreciate, the efforts of our schools and especially teachers in trying to navigate our kids through this new uncharted cosmos, but they’re just guessing, just like the rest of us. 

Sure, they’re the experts but, in this new era, faith in institutions telling us what to do is hard to sustain in light of the fact that, given how this is all so unusual, no one really knows anything. We need to step up and take responsibility for telling ourselves what to do. 

Teachers have come back with a better understanding and new ideas but I’m choosing to take responsibility and if that means that The Dancer chooses to engage piecemeal with the formal program then we’ll find ways to work around that.  

He’s already asked to initiate another reflexology program and we’re both going to learn how to tile the Utility Room. Even I should be able to figure out how to make that about numeracy, measurement and area.  

Life is all Learn and Grow, Learn and Grow, but rarely do we get a chance to replicate the same set of circumstances on such a holistic scale as Lockdown #1 vs Lockdown #2. 

We certainly have an opportunity to re–engage with distance learning from a new perspective with fresh eyes, more knowledge and perhaps a different approach, but for us parents as humans there is also an opportunity to try to do lockdown a bit better for ourselves too. 

For many of us, the wholesome resolutions of self-improvement and development in the time off (ha!) of isolating were drowned in the quotidian tedium and the fear energy of security and survival. It’s hard to self-actualise when you’re stuck at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. 

This time, it feels different. Strengthened by the knowledge that we’ve survived this before and perhaps even pushed on by the guilt of the previous missed opportunity, we can, instead of choosing pain behaviours of procrastination and inconsistency, choose wellness behaviours like following through consistently on self–care and development.  

What do you need? 

So, we get to go around again.  

It certainly doesn’t feel normal, but it’s starting to become routine.

Ruairi O’Duil is a Melbourne reflexologist and father who has been offering his insights into family life during the pandemic. You can find out more about Ruairi on his Reflexology Melbourne website.