The year that went by has been quite overwhelming for everyone across the globe! The pandemic disrupted life at all levels, quite literally! The abnormals of staying indoors all the time, working from home all the time, and a ‘no school’ routine suddenly and without warning became the new normal! Having said that, 2020 has also been a great eye-opener—a live-it-through textbook that has helped those who survived the year learn a few (and more) lessons for life!

Anxious Times

We anticipated that the months of total lockdown would be impossible to deal with. My husband and I were working from home. We were really concerned about how our 6-year-old would sail through each day all by herself. Like everyone else, we missed our support system—our maid and our daughter’s nanny!

Pleasant Surprises

They say children are super resilient and awesome adopters of change. We saw this with our daughter, NiVi, during those months of zero contact with the outside world. She was able to keep herself creatively engaged for most parts of the day, barring some random family cuddle huddles that we totally enjoyed and looked forward to as well! We had made a conscious choice of moving her into a Waldorf kindergarten in 2019. The one year NiVi spent there helped, to a very large extent, with living through the lockdown. We tried to recreate the school-time rhythm at home—waking up early, cooking and cleaning together, having our meals together on the floor, and sleeping early too! (Read more about Rhythms in our homes, environment, and life.)

What Kept Us Busy

There were fixed chores at home that were shared between us. NiVi would end up helping with most of them in some way or form. She would join us in our morning exercise routine—a small way to ensure physical activity indoors. Waldorf kindergartens encourage a lot of outdoor play. This was one thing we thoroughly missed while being indoors during the lockdown. We tried to encourage as much running and jumping around indoors as possible to allow for physical exertion, by making the home a safe space for NiVi.

Kitchen Fun

Kitchen chores turned out to be one of her favourites, including sorting, cleaning, peeling, grating, and slicing fruits and vegetables. Like many others, we took to gardening too during the lockdown. NiVi would help us with prepping the pots with mud, sowing the seeds, watering the plants, and then waiting as eagerly as us for the shoots to pop out and grow into tiny plants. We have always been into healthy baking, and the lockdown gave us more opportunities to bake our own cookies, cakes, and breads. NiVi would help with measuring and mixing, pouring and patting—not to mention the joy of experiencing the wonderful aromas that fill the air and the impatient waiting for the cookies and cakes to cool down 🙂

Open-Ended Play

Waldorf kindergartens also encourage a lot of open-ended play. Wooden blocks, ice-cream sticks, pieces of cloth, seashells, stones, etc., are some of NiVi’s favourites. When left to her own, she would use these in the most creative ways. On some days, she would be a shop seller selling her wares; on another, the blocks and sticks would be used to create patterns on the floor. At times, we would find her busy with pretend play—with the blocks doubling up as cookies that would be baked in an old shoebox, perhaps taking the form of a pretend oven! Cloth would be used for dress-up games or even for draping around furniture to create mini castles or tents. (Read more on the Importance of Playing with Cloth Dolls.)

Handwork

NiVi also spent her afternoons exploring some handwork projects. She practised sewing, weaving, and finger knitting based on what she had learnt at kindergarten. The joy of creating something by herself and using it was immense. I read somewhere that introducing handwork to children in their early years helps them believe that they can be self-reliant creators themselves. This self-reliance is a gift they will cherish right through into their adult lives. I would strongly urge all parents to provide your little ones with this early opportunity at the right time. Their tiny, nimble fingers are capable of wonders beyond our imagination.

To sum it all up, our lockdown days would begin with some physical activities, followed by all the household chores like cleaning and cooking, and some open-ended play. Some handwork after a wholesome family lunch was part of our everyday routine too. Fruits for an evening snack, some story time, and a light dinner would mark the end of the day for NiVi. We would have a couple of hours to catch up on some reading, pending work, or even watch some Netflix 🙂

All Geared and Hopeful

Like everyone else, we are eagerly waiting to brush aside and leave behind the pandemic and its impact on our lives. That said, we will be ever so grateful for all that we learnt during the last year. We hope our little experiences above help spark some ideas in your minds. Do share what worked for you in the comments below, for us to learn from.