How COVID-19 helped with patience, love and play

Did the world wake up one day and ask “How can we make things more difficult for single parents? I know, let’s throw a pandemic at them so their kids won’t have organized activities or play dates, and to make it even more funny, let’s see what happens when they have to be home schooled”!

I was losing my s&!t back in the early days of COVID-19. I was worried about how my daughter was going to get a quality education (I mean, I made a conscious choice NOT to be a teacher back in my early 20s, and I suck at math). But I was also wondering how I would keep my kid busy and entertained. There was one other issue perplexing me – how would I find the patience and kindness needed to get through constant one-on-one time with my child during a stressful time? 

A few things helped: unloading my feelings to trusted friends, meditating on a love abundance mantra, and learning how to have fun like a child again. Oh, and the occasional Bullit Bourbon or Bombay Sapphire to take the edge off. In this post, I’ll go over what I mean about a mantra and learning how to have fun like a kid. 

Meditating on a love (or patience) abundance mantra:

As a person who believes in the Law of Attraction, I believe I have access to an infinite abundance of love (among other things). If you want to learn more, check out Deepak Chopra’s teachings. The worst that can happen is that you’ll fall asleep listening to his sublime voice. The Law of Attraction basically means that we attract into our lives what we focus our thoughts on. The catch is, we need to live every moment possible with love in order to attract it. When I put love into every context I have with my daughter, I am softer, kinder and more understanding, and therefore, more patient with her! For example, instead of briskly asking her to put dirty laundry in her hamper (this occurs every single day), I think of a loving way to ask her, I say it with a smile, and I make sure my tone of voice is positive. 

Every morning I tell myself that “I have access to an infinite abundance of love”, and that “I will show love to everyone I come across today”. If that’s too far-fetched for you, replace “everyone I come across“ with your child’s name. What this exercise does is set you up to live with intention each day. And let me just say, you will be challenged! You may need to repeat this mantra to yourself many times depending on how the day is going. LOL 

Learning how to have fun like a child:

My kid wants me to play with her a lot (she’s an only child, and we have a very small bubble these days). You’ll never believe this but sometimes I just don’t want to pretend I’m a Sandshrew (that’s a type of Pokémon by the way). I’m not entirely sure how I became more fun over the past nine months, so I googled “how to have fun like a child” and here’s a neat list I found. I’ve put an asterisk next to the ones that helped me: 

1. *Be where you are. This is about enjoying the moment.

2. *Learn something new. *we got a chess set for Christmas and we both love playing!

3. Get out of your comfort zone. *i.e. pretending to be a Sandshrew. 

4. Find the beat. This has to do with dancing to the rhythm of any beat you hear - maybe I'll make up a new automatic dishwasher dance move...

5. Smile a lot more often.

6. *Notice nature.

7. *Climb things. If we're the only people at the playground I totally do this.

8. Embrace your “flaws.”

9. *Use your imagination. *Need I mention Sandshrew again?

10. Be unpredictable.

11. *Hand out high-fives.

12. *Slow down.

13. Create.

14. Get dirty.

15. *Break the rules.

For a description of each idea, read Nat Nanton’s article “How to Have Fun Like Children: 15 Joyful Tips” on the Tiny Buddha website.

You were a shite year, 2020, but thank you for forcing me to grow as a parent! 

If you have other recommendations for parenting with patience or on connecting in a fun way with your kids, please post a comment.