Anyone else suffering parent guilt from the home-schooling vs working from home challenge? Read on…
by Anna MacLean
As anyone juggling work and home-schooling or caring responsibilities right now will tell you, it’s easy to feel that you’re not doing great at either work, or in your home life these days.
I have to admit, my heart sometimes sinks when my youngest son, Sam, bursts into my home office (a.k.a. his bedroom) to declare that he wants me to watch some YouTube clip with him “RIGHT NOW!”.
I often try to palm him off, saying I’m right in the middle of something really urgent, but the other day, I caved in and gave him the attention he was craving.
Now, I’ll be honest, Sam’s YouTube viewing seems to mostly consist of watching other folk playing Minecraft online. [How is that even interesting?] That day, when he asked me to watch a video about Super Mario, my heart sank and my mind raced thinking what better things I could be doing with these 15 minutes during the (home) working day.
We sat down, me, trying to put my bulging inbox and overwhelming to do list out of my mind, half expecting to be able to zone out from whatever he thought was sooooo interesting. Within less than a minute, I was hooked.
What I was reminded of in those 15 minutes was invaluable:
1. Really listening to the needs of your child* is worthwhile (even when you think you’re “really busy”).
2. A subtle shift in how we see the world can bring real benefits.
Mark Rober, ex-NASA Scientist and now *my* favourite YouTuber explains this second point much better than I ever could. Switch off your emails, grab a cuppa and enjoy: https://youtu.be/9vJRopau0g0.
You’re welcome.
*and/or your partner/pet
Anna MacLean is Head of Communications at Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park. You can say hi on Twitter at @Plannnna
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image via Giochi
