Mom in isolation with kids finds the 'silver lining' of pandemic
For working parents, it's easy to get caught up in all the negative aspects of working from home, homeschooling, and what seems like non-stop cooking and cleaning.
But Joy McAdams, a mom of five from Bremen, Georgia, has found the bright spots in the pandemic. Four of her children are home now, ages 12-19. The oldest is married.
She wrote in a LinkedIn post, in part:
"This pandemic situation has me so conflicted. I feel guilty that my heart is full as I look outside and see my teenage kids playing together, my new running partner has become my teenage son. We watch movies every night together, we are having dinner as a family every night. All of this precious time would have never happened."
McAdams told "Good Morning America" that she works with medical practices as an independent contractor and when her kids' school changed to online learning in mid-March, she knew she would soon take a financial loss as well.
"Trying to juggle homeschool and the conversion to working at home was completely overwhelming," she said.
McAdams said she began to "play victim" at home.
" I had been feeling like my challenges were bigger than what my kids and husband were facing. I saw the reality is that struggle is relative to where we are in life. My kids were on edge because at their age, losing friends and a social life is a big deal. They had anxiety also from being isolated. Once this shifted in my mindset, we had a family meeting and we started to focus on the good," she said.
Her mindset changed as she cooked dinner one night.
"This was not the normal in our 'before Covid ' hectic life. I looked outside and saw my teenage kids playing together," she said. "I realized we had been watching movies together every night as a family. I also realized how fun it had been to do workout videos together with the girls, go running with my sons. At their ages this was a big deal."
And while she's happy about her change in mindset, she said she remains conflicted.
"There was and will continue to be so much loss from this pandemic," she said.
But she hopes others can also try to see whatever good they can in their current situation.
"I realized that even though I had been committed to keeping a family-work balance, there was still a lot we had been missing out on," McAdams said. "I believe the increased family time has been a wake-up call for everyone. I hope that it’s something that continues to be the new normal as we work through this challenge. I truly believe this silver lining has produced memories that we will hold on to forever."
