Bored! Bored! Bored!

I am bored of home-schooling. I am bored of staying at home. I am bored of the constant battle in my head of should I be working? Should I be home-schooling? Should I be playing? I am bored of trying to decide what to make for every meal, every day. I am bored of constant washing. I am bored of constant cleaning and tidying. I am bored of watching people flout the rules left, right and centre. I am bored of people moaning about everyone flouting the rules (yes I do see the irony!). I am bored of rarely having any time to myself and always feeling like I should be doing something more constructive if I do. Anyone else?

 

Home schooling

Home-schooling three children of completely different ages with two adults that need to work is increasingly becoming a nightmare and one that doesn’t look like ending any time soon because all of my children appear to be the ‘wrong age’!

 

Little one

One is 4, at pre-school with no work set. He should be starting primary in September so I’m just trying to use my own imagination as to what would be good to teach him. We are reading to him lots, playing number games and encouraging lots of drawing and painting. We are also trying to teach him to dress and undress himself (successful) and wipe his own bottom (not successful!). However, whenever I am not doing any of those things or playing with him I just feel guilty.

 

Middle one

Child number two is 10 and at primary school. I can’t fault the way her school is handling this situation. They have many issues to contend with at the moment. Work is set every day but it is the same format every day. Whilst she gets on with it every day without question I am bored of marking it – I expect she is bored of doing it. She is one of many around here who will sit the Kent Test in 3 months-time. Whilst I certainly don’t want them to delay the test and have it hanging over their heads any longer than necessary, I feel so sad for all these kids that it is now looking like they may have no teaching at all for 6 months before they have to get up one day and go and sit it. She will also go into a SATs year next year having potentially lost half a year of curriculum. I do realise she is not unique and this is the same for them all but that doesn’t necessarily make it any better.

 

Big one

Child no 3 is 13 and at secondary school. His school is also setting work and he is getting largely ignored by me and just getting on with it every day. His work seems more varied and interesting but I expect that is down to the fact you study more individual subjects at secondary school so it is mixed up a bit each day. He is missing his friends though. He went out with a few of them last weekend and played football on the green and he chats to them on the dreaded Xbox most days. I’m lucky that he also likes to run so does that at least three times a week but I don’t think being apart from your friends and stuck at home with the same four people day in, day out as a teenager is particularly healthy.

 

Whilst it’s great that zoos and wildlife parks (who have been really struggling financially) are now allowed to open from Monday, as well as all shops, it’s pretty frustrating that we could take the kids to Bluewater and then to the zoo but we can’t provide them with an education. Plus, how are all those places supposed to operate with staff who will also have their children at home still?

 

Bored of food

I have cooked approximately 75 billion meals and provided 17 billion snacks in the 250 years since this started and I’m desperately lacking in inspiration and enthusiasm. I have already been asked by two children today what lunch is and I don’t know yet! I also don’t know what dinner is tonight before anyone asks!

 

As an edit to the above I have just asked (screamed) that they make lunch themselves and they are now making ‘make your own’ pizzas for everyone. They have already asked me 62 billion questions about where the cheese is, whether they should put them on a tray, what to do if all the chopping boards are dirty (!) etc whilst trashing the kitchen.

 

Bored of rules

I am sick of watching people flout the rules. I wish I could just not care but I can’t and it’s winding me up. I realise that I can just look after myself and my family by following the rules and still stay at home, as we are doing, but that doesn’t help the hundreds of key workers getting infected every day who can’t do that and are suffering at the stupidity of others. There are many things our government could have done better in the situation to make things clearer (equally there are many things that have been brilliantly handled – I expect our furloughing scheme is the envy of many) but some things have been made very clear from the start. Two metre social distancing from people who you don’t share a house with has been the same instruction since March and is still the same now yet I see groups of friends walking next to each other all the time now. Adults. Big groups of teenagers. I nearly lost the will to live this week when I saw a teenage birthday party happening on the cricket green. At one point there were approximately 15 girls sat in a circle with barely two centimetres between them let alone two metres. What’s worse was all the adults/parents standing around with them enabling the party. Equally, I know people who have now visited other family members and not maintained distancing, people who have had friends round for Sunday lunch and gone inside ‘because it started raining’.

 

Go away!

I love all of my family to pieces BUT I am used to being home alone at least four hours a day 4/5 days a week. I like to write in peace. I like to work in total silence. I enjoy my own company. I rarely put the TV or radio on when I’m at home during the week. I just like peace and quiet so to now be 12 weeks in to never being alone is tough on my own mental health. Sometimes I just want everyone to sod off and leave me alone. It’s exhausting.

 

Bubble fun?

Last night it was announced that we could create social bubbles so one person who lives alone could come and join our family. Hooray – my mum who has observed every rule to the letter, barely been out for weeks and has no family living nearby can come and stay for a few days! Except wait, my father in law who also lives alone can’t if my mum comes. So, do we choose our favourite grandparent?!

 

Rant over

Anyway, I am just ranting. I do not profess to have solutions to any of these problems. There aren’t solutions to many of them. I am still enormously grateful that we will get through this as a family. We are healthy and we are not having to work on the frontline dealing with Covid patients every day (thanks to those who do!). My kids are all being amazing with the way they are just cracking on with everything, working hard and not complaining and I know lots of people whose children are struggling more so I know I’m lucky but some days that doesn’t feel quite enough at the moment.

 

I usually write really chirpy, happy things about all the amazing things I am doing with the children but I think sometimes it’s important to say…. do you know what? This is hard. It’s not like The Waltons 24/7 and I’m knackered and fed up! Anyone else?!