So. My little sisters were recently gifted an early birthday present: tablets. Sweet, beautiful, silence-inducing tablets. I can't tell you how much these things have saved our household; with just the quick press of an "on" button, my soon-to-be 4-year-old sisters stop screaming and crying, and sink into a learning game involving the alphabet or numbers. I know a lot of screen time isn't great for anyone, especially kids, but my GOD - I will let these two sit on these things all day if that means the 5 adults can have some peace and quiet during quarantine.
I think this is what was really getting to me by being stuck in a two-bedroom apartment - the constant screaming, crying, and whining by two small children who desperately need to expend some energy outdoors. Before quarantine began, I would take them out regularly to parks and trails to get them outside and exploring; they even started practicing riding their bikes more, which was fantastic to watch. They would look for bugs and lizards, squirrels and birds, all the fun kid stuff you do when the world is your oyster (while supervised, of course). But now that leaving our home can raise our chances of being hooked up to a respirator, we have to stay put - and my little sisters still don't understand why we're cooped up inside all day.
Every day they ask to go to the park, the trail, to ride bikes, to go see squirrels - all the stuff they love to do, and it pains me that I can't take them out. I love seeing them frolic in grassy fields and climb up and down playground equipment until they're so tired from playing that they collapse at the strike of 7:00PM. I loved seeing their round cheeks get all flushes from running and jumping, laughing and yelling, and trying to find squirrels to point at and scream: "squirrel!".
It's hard now that we don't have that luxury for the time being, and it sucks that we've resorted to tablets to keep both of them entertained for the majority of the day - but it has so greatly helped my sanity. Before the tablets arrived just a few days ago in the mail, they would have meltdowns about 58 times per day; and if they weren't melting down, they were whining over every little thing and wouldn't leave any of the adults alone for more than 8 seconds at a time. It was so overwhelming and exhausting that I tried to stifle angry tears every time they would start wailing over wanting popsicles instead of peanut butter crackers.
With these simple tablets, they can sit quietly and entertain themselves while I get work done for my blog and YouTube channel; it's been an absolute dream. I can't tell you how much more at ease I feel with 80% less screaming every day; and even though I'd much prefer my sisters play outside and get fresh air, this is the best option for now - for everyone in our house.
Don't beat yourself up if the small children in your life are having way more screen time than usual; we need to do what we can to stay sane. If my sisters sitting with a screen in their face for several hours per day means I don't feel like going to sob in the bathroom, then so be it. All of the adults in my household feel ten times better with the decrease in screaming. Right now, this is what needs to be done.
As soon as all of this is over, I'm taking my sisters on an outside extravaganza (the park, a trail, a museum - the whole nine yards).
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