2020 has broken new ground for many of us. For me, it was the first shopping trip wearing latex gloves, the first time I had to request a permit to leave the house, and the first funeral I attended over Zoom. But being a new parent has also brought plenty of highs and, as I write this, my wife and I are preparing for our daughter’s first birthday.
Being able to pop my head round the door and see her smiling face has been lovely, but there has also been plenty of crying and lots of meltdowns while we’ve been trying to work at home. Which brings me on to the amount of (usually childless) people saying ‘it must be amazing to be able to stay home with your baby all day.’ Judge me if you like, but it has not been consistently amazing. Like many parents, we’re caught between needing to work and wanting to comfort our daughter, at times feeling like we’re failing at both.
I’m sure a year ago I’d have been in their camp, not realising quite how much hard work goes into keeping an infant alive (even with a brilliant nanny during the week) and, of course, being totally unprepared for almost a whole year working from home.
We have seen a first smile, a first tooth, a first word (kind of, and I’m sure it was ‘dada’) and many more special moments, but one thing I’d love to see happen for the first time, is people to stop assuming everyone is having a fantastic time at home. It’s tough being a parent at the best of times, throw in the world’s first pandemic and it’s even harder. Until next month, be nice to one another…
