At the best of times motherhood is an all-encompassing rollercoaster of emotions – relentless, calm, joyful and exhausting – all rolled into one – and yet, it’s single-handedly the most wonderful thing I’ll ever do. Throw in a global pandemic though and things become harder to navigate. Tears from the toddler about not being able to go to school and see her friends, explaining social distancing to a child and why we can’t go visit all of our family, playing and entertaining just at home, cooking and cleaning, all while working from home.

The best thing about lockdown was the quality time that we spent as a family, the outdoor adventures to places we had never been, hours spent in the woods walking fairy trails, looking for fairy houses and the homemade scavenger hunts in the garden. Here are a few things I did with my little ones to keep the, entertained:

Baking. I'm not much of a baker, so at least this year has given me time to practice, we didn't join in with the banana bread making, suck more to boxed fairy cakes & Rice Krispy cakes.

 

Painting. Our favourite was hand painting & nail polish painting on a hand outline.

Garden or living room Treasure Hunts. Obviously this one depends on the weather, if it's cold or raining, we moved the treasure hunt to the living room.  While my husband was giving the girls their breakfast, I'll slip out & hide a few of their toys for them to search for mid morning.

Home Made Dough. Daddy helped us make dough.. In the first few weeks it was all about team work, while I was looking after our new born, Scott was keeping our toddler entertained, always needing a big tidy up afterwards.

Lots of family Walks. We are very lucky we live in a small village surrounded by woodlands & plenty of places to walk without the worry of being surrounded by too many people. Evie looked looking for fairies during these walks or splashing in the puddles.  It's always good to get out the house as much as possible to give you all a breather & some fresh air.

Being in lockdown can be difficult especially with children but it is best to stay positive and keep occupied.

After around 4 months, the country left the national lockdown and it was a relief & very emotional when we were finally allowed to go and see family & friends (obviously at a social distance) which was lovely as we could introduce our not so little one to her family for the first time in our own bubble, for the family members shielding  it was still a case of looking through a window, hopefully when they get the vaccines this will change.

Now we were out of lockdown my toddler was able to go back to school, she was so excited! Whilst she was at school it was so nice to be able to sit and play with our youngest. (It can be a bit of a whirlwind with 2 ha!) 
We noticed a massive change in our toddler after she had been going to school, the interaction with other children made her so much calmer and happier with herself. 

Going out and visiting family felt really strange at the beginning but also amazing. Even though I spoke to most of my family daily over the phone or via facetime, seeing them in person was great! Obviously, we could not hug, but having that face-to-face conversation was extremely nice. You never realise just the smallest of things you miss. I'm so pleased the governments have confirmed going forward with any lockdowns, parents with small children will be allowed to see their grandparents for support & well-being on both sides.

Being in lockdown can be difficult especially with children but it is best to stay positive and keep occupied. There is always someone you can speak to and always plenty of groups on Facebook for activities for all ages to keep the kids occupied. 

If you or anyone else you know is struggling, Mind have a team of professionals on hand to talk 24/7: https://www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/ If you haven't read the previous segment of this Lockdown trilogy - you can do so here https://www.obaby.co.uk/lockdown-baby/