Children feel our emotions and it is important to stay positive during these trying times. We all have to put our A game more than ever – that being said, good health has never been more important both physically and mentally. As a parent to another, a teacher to another, here are my silver linings.
First, I am incredibly grateful that I am forced to get to know my daughter better. I am a working parent and recently resigned to spend more time with my daughter. Being an educator, I carried on with home service tutorials here and there. I’ve always been a morning person. I leave the house around 6:30am and hit the gym. I get home do some online work for about 4 hours during weekdays while having to take care of my daughter. I sometimes leave in the afternoon to do tutorials. You see, not all my hours are spent at home. Now that we are on community quarantine, I am with my daughter 24/7.
During the first few days, I sent my mother a message saying or maybe ‘complaining’ on how I was so T I R E D. She then highlighted the fact that the hours I spent outside the house is already a big difference from now that I’m just literally in the house. I hate to admit it, but she is right. From the bottom of my heart, I salute all of the stay-at-home parents out there!
Yes, I said it, I am tired. I also feel rewarded. I get to know more and more things about my daughter daily – may it be something simple like how her limbs are so strong now, how she loves to sing and dance, how she adores horses, etc. She even joins me now when I do my workouts. She copies me when I do squats and crunches. She likes hanging by the bars when I do some pull up exercises. She even hangs on her own with a little assistance. She is also very good at bothering me when I do a plank.
This leads me to my other silver lining and that is daily exercises for the body and mind! I squeeze in 30 minutes to an hour daily for some exercises and meditation. Since all the family is here at home, I barely count my intermittent fasting hours nor I follow my ‘strict’ diets as I would like to take this opportunity to spend quality time with the whole family and yes, it always involves food! Exercising also releases endorphins or happy hormones so it definitely can help us to stay positive. Cliché as it may seem, aside from looking good, exercise will also make you FEEL good. You have to exercise the mind too. may it be through reading, meditation, work related, etc.
I have also never been more appreciative to all the teachers out there for continuing to stay in touch with their students and even their students’ families. As a parent, you sometimes run out of activities to do with your kids and with all the assistance that their teachers are giving us now, they are of big help! With people like them, there is no doubt that I will lose hope for our country or better yet, for the world.
I hope that I was able to uplift your spirits up even just for a bit. I now have to attend to my daughter who is drawing on herself as I type this. Have a healthy day!
Cathy M. Hwang, L.P.T.
Marketing Consultant of Cambridge Child Development Centre – Philippines
A teacher-mommy who just can’t get enough of learning about new preschool trends
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