MAMÁ CITA PODCAST
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast Blog
  • Connect & Stream
  • Mamá Cita Gear
  • Sponsor

playing with our kids, a pandemic way of life

2/24/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
I had a baby in December of 2019 and by March of 2020 we entered this never ending pandemic. I had a newborn and a 4 year old who needed my attention all of the time, but I was hopeful, optimistic, or maybe just naïve, but I swore that the pandemic would pass quickly just like other possible pandemics we had lived through. I had just gotten myself off the couch and back into the studio. I was feeling myself and managed to have one fabulous week. We went to a fancy dinner party, 4 year old and a 2.5 month old in tow. I dusted off my stilettos and wore white. That weekend I also had a girls night out and went to a speakeasy wine bar and classical concert. After recovering from a second c-section and settling into my new identity as a mother of two, I felt like I was starting to live again. And then the safer at home order came.
 
I leaned into this stay at home mom thing and really just stopped doing anything that was work related, or that had to do with anything about me. I learned quickly that it was not a sustainable way of living. You can’t be everything for everyone and nothing for yourself.
 
I have been extremely fortunate during this pandemic. I have not had to worry about anything except not getting Covid. I live in a beautiful place. I say this all the time, but really being at home in 2020, I have really lived in my beautiful place and I have really appreciated living in this beautiful place. I hate to even have a complaint because I know that what I am saying is coming from a place of privilege and really, how dare I? My 20 something self would roll her eyes at the current me and remind her to toughen up because we know what it’s like to have real worries.
 
But as a mom with 2 small children during a pandemic, this is what I am supposed to do right, complain? I don’t know, I can’t… It’s hard because my kids are great, but yes, it has been extremely hard to be a mom during the pandemic. My kids know that their job is to play and to learn. I am the mom and so I facilitate all of this. What does that mean for me? It means I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on the floor playing. I’ve walked a million steps on our daily walks around the neighborhood. I’ve made up hundreds of stories and games. I’ve talked about little kid things until my brain started to disintegrate from lack of actual use, because you know, it’s a muscle. If you don’t use it you lose it. I shrunk an inch and lost so many brain cells, from lack of use and from my quarantine hobby of drinking cocktails. I played dammit! If my kids so much as allude to some bull that I never played with them I am going to disown them.
 
Yes, I feel very strongly about this, but for good reason. My mother didn’t really play with me. She would say “quieres que vaya a llamar al ejercito para que venga a jugar contigo?” First of all, what?! “Do you want me to call the army to come play with you?” I don’t even know where she got that from, what it means or why she would say this to me. All she had to do was be honest. “No I don’t like to play.” “No, I’m busy doing blah blah…” “No,  I hate you.” Whatever, but it all goes back to communication and talking to our kids. The truth never occurred to her but this saying, which she said a lot, because I asked her to play with me a lot, was the right thing for her to say? In my little kid brain it was like a threat and a no at the same time. It’s so weird because with my kids, my mom is on the floor playing, dancing, laughing. It’s unrecognizable to me.
 
My big generalization is that our Latin mamas did not play with us because they were not aware of the cognitive benefits of playing in children. The idea that kids learn through playing is a new concept and so for them playing was just not necessary.
 
Did your parents engage in active playtime with you? How much do you play with your kids? How have you coped with the monotony that is every day with a kid?

Would love to hear from you!
XO,
Wendy
 
 

0 Comments

    Author

    Wendy writes blog posts that turn into conversations for the Mamá Cita Podcast.

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020

    Categories

    All
    15 Year Old Birthday
    1980's Board Games
    7 Deadly Sins
    Bad Girls
    Bad Moms
    Be A Good Girl
    Becoming A Mom
    Before We Had Kids
    Birth Story
    Brujeria
    Children Watching TV
    Chronic Disease
    Cooking
    Culturally Catholic
    Curandera
    Dia Del Amor Y La Amistad
    Doing It All
    Drowning In Kid Stuff
    Eating
    Ethnic Identity
    Evil Eye
    Fast Food
    First Time Moms
    Food
    Gender
    Gender Fluid
    Gender Roles
    Gender Stereotypes
    Girls And Boys
    Good Girls
    Good Girls Vs Bad Girls
    Grandchildren
    Grandparents
    Grandparents And Grandchildren
    Growing Up Latina
    Hard To Make Friends
    Having It All
    Healthy Diet
    Heartthrob The Dating Game
    Hispanic
    Hoarders
    IPad
    Kids And Gender
    Kids And Screen Time
    Kids And The IPad
    Kids Mess
    Kid Stuff Everywhere
    Latin American
    Latina Moms In The Media
    Latina Moms In The Movies
    Latinidad
    Latin Moms
    Latino
    Latino Teens
    Latinx
    Living At Home
    Living With Our Parents
    Love And Romance
    Making Friends
    Mamacita
    Mamá Cita Podcast
    Mamas Latinas
    Mom Blog
    Mom Circles
    Mom Friends
    Mom Guilt
    Momming
    Momming So Hard
    Mom Podcast
    Moms On Tv
    Mother During The Pandemic
    Mother's Day 2021
    Movies
    Multigenerational Household
    New Mom
    New Mom Identity
    Olivia Benson
    Our Quinceañera
    Pandemic
    Parenting
    Parents Living With Us
    Patience
    Perfect Moms
    Playing During The Pandemic
    Playing With Our Kids
    Post Birth
    Post-birth
    Pre-kids
    Pre-mom Life
    Quinceañera
    Quinceañera The Movi
    Raising A Girl
    Raising Good Girls
    Religious Upbringing
    Rituals
    Romantic Love
    Sandwich Generation
    Screentime
    Screen Time
    Season Finale
    Self- Love
    Single Mother
    Spanish Language TV
    Special Victims Unit
    Stereotypes In The Media
    Supernatural
    Superstition
    Superstitious
    Super Sweet 16 On MTV
    Taking Care Of The Elderly
    Talking To Our Kids
    Teaching Kids Religion
    Television
    Too Much Stuff
    Traditions
    TV
    Valentine's Day
    Witch Doctor

    RSS Feed

    Listen to the Podcast
    Podcast RSS Feed
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast Blog
  • Connect & Stream
  • Mamá Cita Gear
  • Sponsor