TLDR – Millfam is spoiled and sheltered during lockdown. Our home has a fully kitted office, and kids play spaces – we’re thankful for what we have and feel for those struggling
Office Spoiled
I know lockdown is painful to horrible for millions and millions of people. Personally, for us, it’s been an ok situation. I’m still working, staying busy. Michelle’s job before was kids. Her job now involves far more time with the kids and being a teacher, but it is not horrible. In true Michelle form, she has adapted and excelled in her new role as a teacher, super proud of her. The kids have a schedule during the week. Their teachers provide assignments, RTE has an hour-long home education show once a day, computers for online classes – it’s becoming normal life.
The biggest personal spoil for me is the private office fully kitted out with nerd comforts. I interact with people working from their kitchens sharing the space with spouse and kids all day long. Here I am ordering fancy map backgrounds and extra lighting to appear prettier in video meetings. Being spoiled is brilliant, not going to lie. I love it, and I’m thankful. But I do feel some guilt hearing what other people are going through knowing this stay at home order is difficult for most people not as spoiled as we are.
Kids Spoiled
The kids have a play room larger than most people’s living rooms dedicated to their toys and dance practice. The best part of the playroom, it has a mostly soundproof door; the parents love this part. Living in the future, they have an Amazon Echo in their playroom hooked up to an older Logitech 8″ subwoofer PC speaker setup for music. They can listen to almost any song ever via amazon music or Spotify by simply asking Echo to play the music. Once a day they put on a Dance and singing show for Michelle and me.
In addition to the play room space and the back garden, we added on to the house with an eight-man tent last week. The tent is tall enough Michelle and I can stand up straight in the middle of it. It’s almost five meters wide. The kids covered the floor with mats, pillows, and blankets to make it more comfortable. The girls bring in their dolls or they bring in their phones or cards and play games in the tent. They even started doing some of their school work in the tent. It gets them outside with some shade. It’s actually been sunny here the last few weeks and the shade is nice to prevent sun burns
On the one hand, it might be better for the kids, in the long run, to suffer more during the pandemic to better understand other people and the massive impact. On the other hand being able to shield them the impact is living the dream as a parent doing your best to take care of children and provide them with the best possible childhood.
