The following reflection comes from a Mom and Registered COSP Facilitator from Ireland as she navigates changes to home life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are now in the third week of schools being closed and life in Ireland has been progressively changing, with further restrictions almost every week. It has been such an odd time, and often I feel like I’m watching a movie. Each week brings new realities and new things to adapt to and, while I feel like I am mostly managing OK with it, I have noticed that I have a shorter fuse than usual with my 6 year old daughter. As indeed, does she!
The other day when we were doing some schoolwork, she was starting to whine and was getting a little cheeky, not doing what I was asking her. I was feeling under pressure as I had to get things done so that I could find some time to do some of my paid work. Feeling under pressure, along with whining and my daughter not responding usually sets off my Shark Music. Often, but not always, I’m able to turn it down. As I observed her, I thought of this as an Organize my Feelings moment. I thought about the mum in the last chapter of the COSP DVD doing a Time In with her son and I felt like I channeled her as I turned down my Shark Music, put my arms out to my daughter and invited her to come sit beside me. She came straight in, sat beside me and I put my arm around her. The whole atmosphere and mood changed (for both of us). Soon after this moment of pause, we went back to the school work and I had a really strong sense of how powerful that connection was for both of us.
Registered COSP Facilitator, Ireland
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