Interview With Rakhi Parsai
With the advent of the pandemic, parents were suddenly thrown headlong into dealing with a new situation – ‘Pandemic Parenting‘. Some of the parents spending every waking hour with the family, all the while being cooped up in the house together. Taking care of work, home and children with new challenges. As your family enters this new phase of life, try these tips and experiences from parent bloggers to help you thrive in this time of uncertainty.
This week, we bring you Rakhi’s experience. Mum to two beautiful kids, a full-time Influencer, a Communications & PR Professional, and a Digital Marketing Freelancer. A woman who observes people and is fascinated by the unknown life’s stories (especially parenting), loves to meet new people (mums off late who can share stories with her), has an urge to tell stories, appreciates the love of family and friends. If you are looking for some interesting, reflective, and at times, entertaining reading, head to ‘Lifethrumyeyes’
Q. What do you think are some of the most significant difficulties faced by families as a result of the pandemic?
The current pandemic situation has come in as a huge blow to most families. None of us were prepared for a situation like this and that has caused quite a lot of uproar. It has impacted every stratum of our society in some or another way. But the most affected have been people who lost their jobs midway, reduced income, and have limited resources of childcare and education. One of the biggest concerns is for the families who are living on the edge or in poverty.
Aside from this, most of the families have been suffering from managing kids 24×7 at home and ensuring their learning and entertainment as well. Most of the homes have limited space and they function as a home, school, office in which families are finding themselves in a bind. The pressure to juggle between the roles is pressuring the parents and impacting the overall development and education of children as well.
Q. How did you and your family members cope with the stress of quarantine and social distancing?
It’s not been easy at all for me and the kids. I am an outgoing person and loves to meet people and friends. Thus, social distancing was quite difficult when we couldn’t meet the next-door neighbor, help each other in times of need just to stay protected and keep our families safe.
For kids, the whole idea of quarantine and social distancing was new and to make them understand why we can’t meet others was difficult initially. There was a constant fear of meeting people in our society and if by any chance someone came to the house, we were apprehensive on how to deal with that. We would usually spend more time with each other, play family games, cook together and watch family movies to stay away from the entire stress.
Q.How frequently do you assist your child with their schoolwork and how does your child react to it?
Initially, when the schools were functioning normally it was much easier as my daughter required less intervention in her studies. Most of the doubts and concepts were easily cleared by the teachers at school. Now, with online classes, things have become different as children are not able to understand the concept very well. Thus, I ensure and sit with my daughter on daily basis to guide her in her homework. Since teachers have a perfect methodology to teach children it’s easier for them to communicate the message across, that’s where my daughter at times finds difficulty when I sit with her to teach a particular subject.
Q. What does your child enjoy the most/least about online classes? What are your opinions on this new digital learning era?
I guess the digital era was bound to come in few years. However, the pandemic forced the world to accept the digital way of life a few years early. Initially, when online classes had started it was a unique experience for kids. And that’s why they enjoyed it a lot and had fun exploring different mediums of learning and platforms too. However, with yet another year of online classes looming over their heads my daughter is not quite happy with it. The lack of connection with the teachers and friends is something that my daughter constantly points at. A complete dearth of recreational activity, sports, and games has led the kids to dislike online classes all the more.
Q. How are you keeping your kids busy and making sure they stick to their healthy routine?
Routine is one of the most important things we follow at home. Despite the online classes starting quite late in the day, we follow a pattern daily. There is a set time for all morning activities for my kids and we have incorporated time for other activities like yoga, prayer, studies, art & craft, television, family time as well. The day for them begins with a basic mantra chanting followed by a healthy breakfast and so on. Since all the activities have a time fixed, they follow it religiously and lead a healthy life. I pay extra attention to the nutrition bit as they are sitting at home with not much outdoor play.
We have family time in the evening every day wherein we all sit together and share things from our day and do some fun activities or play some family games as well. Watching kids’ movies together is one of my kid’s most favorite.
Q. What activities do you carry out with your family members and kids at home? What do you do to help your family stay healthy?
As I said, our day starts with Yoga every day. 1.5 hours of yoga and meditation is something that helps all of us stay healthy. Aside from this, I strictly follow a healthy and nutritious diet. Balanced meals and regular intake of our vitamins help in ensuring health from within.
As a family, we do quite a lot of activities. Fridays being the beginning of the weekend officially marks for the man of the house to have more fun with the kids. We do art and craft activities, play treasure hunts, and various indoor games together to keep the kids on their toes and happy as well.
Q. What has been the best/worst part for you during this pandemic?
My husband leads a hectic lifestyle with his office and work. So, the best part about this year has been constantly in the house for over 1 year now and have not traveled anywhere. We have been getting to enjoy a lot of his time and love. As a family, we all have come closer and started to understand each other better.
My husband leads a hectic lifestyle with his office and work. So, the best part about this year has been constantly in the house for over 1 year now and have not traveled anywhere. We have been getting to enjoy a lot of his time and love. As a family, we all have come closer and started to understand each other better.
Losing many of the immediate family members to this pandemic has been the worst. Inability to visit the families in the past 2 years has caused us too much mental harm since we live constantly in fear for the loved ones.
Q. How does your child feel about what is happening around him/her? Do you think their understanding of what is happening is having an impact on how they feel?
I got two kids and my younger one is too small to understand what’s happening, but he does miss going to the park and playing on swings. With regards to my elder one, she has a clear understanding of what’s happening around her and misses stepping out of the house. Mood swings, irritation, and boredom are some of the things we often notice in her behavior.
Indeed, the overall atmosphere and things happening around are impacting the kids and how they feel as well. Their only wish for the longest has been for all this to get over so that they can visit malls, their favorite places, parks, and grandparents as well.
Q. Has parenting been a difficult or easy experience for you during these trying times? What does your regular routine look like?
I wouldn’t say it has been easy for me to manage my kids. Indeed, the times have been trying and parenting kids has been difficult as well. The initial phase was still an easy and happy one as we all were excited about having the family together and staying at home 24×7. Gradually this 24×7 time became tedious for all and managing everything at home did take a toll on us. Despite having a routine for kids and the family things just get monotonous for all and start to trouble.
My typical day starts with exercise followed by sending time with plants in my balcony garden. This is one hobby that I have since childhood but got more time to work on it during the pandemic phase. The rest of the day is set on my clock. From morning breakfast to lunch things work as per the schedule and in between managing the routine of my kids. Most of my afternoons are dedicated to the freelance work that I do. And evenings again have a set schedule with kid’s activities, playtime, and post that dinner.
Q. What advice would you like to share with all the moms/dads out there?
UNMUTE. One of the things that I have understood in this pandemic is that we need to unmute ourselves. Share our emotions and feelings with friends or families. Do not bottle up your emotions as it causes more mental pain in long run.
UNMUTE. One of the things that I have understood in this pandemic is that we need to unmute ourselves. Share our emotions and feelings with friends or families. Do not bottle up your emotions as it causes more mental pain in long run.
The pandemic and constantly living in closed doors causes a lot of mental suffering to each one of us parents. Managing kids, home, house chores, and even work from home for men and some women. All of this can cause a lot of stress. Take out time to talk with your friends, do video calls, revive old friendships, connect with your extended family members, and last but not least take time for your hobbies. Nurture any one of your hobbies again and give time to it daily or weekly.
Self-care and our mental health as parents are of utmost importance for us to be able to make our families and kids happy. Focus on your mental well-being and in turn, you will be able to manage kids very well. Last but not least, don’t pressurize yourself to be a perfect parent. We are humans and we make mistakes. It’s okay if your child won’t get nutritional food one day, it’s okay if you won’t spend time with them one day. Don’t beat yourself for this. There are good times and bad times, talk it out with your partner and try and make kids understand as per their age.
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