I take my hat off to all those carers working from home with children under 5. (Picture of a hat)
As a result of the pandemic I was starting to believe that I was no longer a dinosaur in the IT department. Admittedly, before everyone at WINNS Head Office shouts otherwise, I wouldn’t have said I had completely moved from the Mesozoic Era of the dinosaurs into the Cenozoic Era, but still, there was progress. However, thanks to the plethora of video conferencing tools, I was able to take a break whilst still playing my part in sustaining and progressing the momentum the Company had gained during the last 2 years.
Challenges
Now I love being the grandad of three gorgeous girls, but when two of said gorgeous girls joined me on my break, I went back completely into the Mesozoic Era, the age of the dinosaur.
There is nowhere to hide
Why do young children, who play happily and without fuss, suddenly start kicking off when you’re on a conference call?
Why do they renege on the deal you’ve made with them over ice-cream just as your Zoom meeting starts?
Why do your notes become part of an early years experiment invovling water, juice and yogurt?
How do you parents do it?
If you are in sales and your biggest client ever is about to sign the deal with you, how, in that moment, can you make the choice between the deal and the emergency toilet drama unfolding within your hearing, knowing just how long it will take to clear up the toilet drama.
How can you not yearn for the comfort offered by your office. The chance to pass the time of day with people who don;t ask why 30,000 times until you say the immortal phrase that you promised yourself you would never say, ‘Because I said so’?
I now appreciate why our staff, especially those with young children, were eager to remain in work. Why they were happy to have an antigen test every Monday. Why they were happy to operate a socially distanced flow within the office. Why they worked proactively to keep themselves and everyone else safe. Boy do I get it.
The Government is now actively encouraging everyone to go back to work in their offices. If I had young children, I’d be back quicker than a New York Minute, faster than a rat up a drainpipe, at the drop of a hat, and a million more Idioms.
RECOMMENDATIONS
So, after 12 days with my granddaughters, all I can retrieve from the experience, apart from the lovely memories of the past 12 days, is the following recommendations to you:
SUN CREAM
Rituals Factor 30 sun protection milky spray is fantastic and completely stopped me from burning. It has UVA protection. It dries completely into the skin so you can put it on at the start of the day and forget about it. There was also no need to reapply during the day, no matter how many times we were in and out of the water. We used the factor 50 face cream for the children’s faces and it also worked a treat.
UPLIFTING BREAKFAST
Recipe
125ml Greek Yogurt
30g blueberries
30g strawberries
30g raspberries
30g blackcurrants
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
½ tsp chia seeds
10g chopped nuts (only if you are not allergic)
1 tbsp sultanas
Method
- Put yogurt into a bowls
- Put the rest of the ingredients on top
SIMPLES 😂
CALORIES
There are less calories and sugar in a gin and slimline tonic than in a glass of wine.
Generic white wine 175ml 130 calories 6g sugar
Malbec red wine 150ml 170 calories 2g sugar
Cava 125ml 94 calories 4g sugar
Gin & tonic zero 25ml 52 calories 0g sugar
Gin & slimline tonic 25ml 100 calories 0g sugar
My calorie facts are taken and carefully selected from My Fitness Pal as this allowed me to have more gin and tonics each day. Statistics have to work in my favour sometimes 😂
PODCAST
Rob Beckett & Josh Widdicome started a podcast on the trials of parenting during a pandemic. I have listened to this podcast avidly and would recommend it to all those with young children and would suggest you start at the beginning and catch up if you haven’t. It is always comforting to know it’s not just you.
So to all of you who have worked from home with young children, I salute you.