Covid Made Me Do It

In the middle of a global pandemic, I think it is fair to say our lives are more different than we could have anticipated at the beginning of the year.

Our ‘normal’ as we knew it abruptly came to a sharp halt, and in my house, it showed. My bubbly daughter was now often somber. My incessant “no’s” to her requests weren’t helping.

It’s been rough; my sweet child asking why she couldn’t go to school, me failing at finding the words to explain to my 4 year old why she didn’t get to finish her preschool year; her constantly inquiring for playdates and trips to the park, to which I had to say ‘no’ so many times it made me exceedingly sad as hope faded from her face. 

She caught on all too quickly and began responding with  “It’s because of that coronavirus mom”.

Yes, my sweet girl, it is.

I was humbled by her little self grasping what was going on in the outside world and connecting the dots. I had originally avoided telling her about it; I hadn’t wanted to frighten her with the truth. But she wasn’t scared– she was angry because of all the things COVID was taking away from her.

And I was too, until the day COVID made me do it. 

“Can I have frosting on my toast momma?” YES. Finally, something I could say yes to that put such a big smile on my girl’s face. It was such a small thing, but she was instantly in a better mood. And I ran with it.

Soon I said ‘yes’ to wearing her swimsuit all day, even for an impromptu midday bubble bath with her toys! Pools might be closed, but bathtubs can be just as fun!

One afternoon my daughter asked if we could paint our nails. After seeing this fun idea, I suggested she practice painting them! All it took was a piece of cardboard, a marker to outline both her hands and draw her nails, and some nail polish to ‘paint’ her nails! Of course, it was nice enough to do outside on the sidewalk, and made for such a fun activity! She loved it, and I loved seeing her so happy.

No pool? No problem!

As a result of COVID-19, inflatable and pop-up pools sold out almost faster than TP during the toilet paper frenzy! So making do with what we’ve got, we brought out our sprinkler. My little water-loving girl wasn’t entertained by running through the cold sprays for long, so I caved and bought the water balloons I usually avoid. Oh, how she lit up when I brought them out!

COVID-19 may have taken our usual pool-fun from us this summer, but those water balloons were next best in her eyes!

COVID may have increased my need (and dread) of saying ‘no’, but each day I found something small to instead say ‘yes’ to. One simple thing, some days more, was all it really took to improve my daughter’s mood SO much. And when her mood improved, mine did too.

We were happier, and finding things to look forward to, which was just what we needed to survive a summer with COVID-19.

What has you saying “COVID made me do it”?

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