As 2020 approached, many people anticipated that it would be a great year for them. But it is safe to say that the pandemic had other plans. With the world at a standstill, everyone was forced to adjust to a new lifestyle. And with kids at home fulltime, parenting got intense. A few mothers share with Joan Mbabazi their highs and lows during the pandemic. Lucy Mukangira, a mother of three, says she has never bonded so much with her kids like she did during the Covid-19 lockdown. Considering the children were studying online and she was working from home, lockdown was like a ‘short vacation to get to know each other better’. This was a period to pray, do homework, play, sing, eat, and watch TV together as a family. Her children looked to her for all the answers regarding Covid-19. She imagined how frightened they were as they watched the news, with people dying in heaps all over the world. Mukangira had to answer all sorts of questions. She urged her little ones to be vigilant, respect and follow the healthy safety measures like washing their hands with soap, keeping their masks on when out of the house, among other things. “I actually started noticing talents in each of my children, and gave praise where necessary,” Mukangira says. To divert their attention from the worrying coronavirus updates, she introduced games to keep them occupied, and encouraged them to read books. But it wasn’t always peaceful; on many occasions, Mukangira was distracted by the children while working. One may have wanted to use her phone, or perhaps needed assistance with school assignments—or there was a need to stop fights. This, she says, was frustrating. She says she started appreciating teachers a lot more as she realised that they do a great job at school—the children had her exhausted in just a few months. She wondered how teachers handle them each and every single day. Mukangira says that sometimes, she would forego her work just to follow-up on her children, to see if they were actually learning, or cleaning up the mess they caused. For Allen Mutamba, a first-time mother, lockdown was a season to witness the milestones of her baby, from crawling and standing, to taking a few steps with some support, and saying “papa” and “mama”, and growing teeth. Mutamba says she also used the time to craft a few pieces for her daughter, and used the same skills to make crotchet attires and shoes for sale, a business that brought in a side income for her. Unfortunately, adjusting to fulltime work again is a challenge, as she is now used to spending so much time with her family. Odile Uwimbabazi, a mother and a resident of Nyamirambo, says seeing her kids wake up with no rush to school was priceless. She says that the children needed the rest; they were not ‘strangers’ anymore at home like it was before the pandemic. However, that is now history since they enjoy being home, and take responsibility for home duties. Among her joys, Uwimbabazi says she enjoyed the time at home without anyone else’s intervention. However, being a parent and a teacher at the same time was her biggest challenge, and she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t a good teacher to her children, at all. As much as she loved having the children home fulltime, keeping them busy or entertained and monitoring their screen time all week long wasn’t an easy task, she says.
