Hello everyone!
I hope you're all?doing as well as possible, during these pandemic times.
We're in Portugal and going through a very strict lockdown at the moment, because things were getting seriously?out of control right after Christmas (or maybe it began before Christmas?, I don't know...).?
Thing is, our family (my husband Bruno, my 11 year old daughter Conchinha and I) was already keeping a very contact-less life prior to this lockdown, because Bruno has to work outside of our home and we always felt like he was/is more at risk of catching the virus and so we could transmit it unknowingly, if we were to be on contact with other people. Anyway, this was just to say that we miss people *a lot* and I think that the stress is finally getting to all of us (or it's been simmering for the past months and now it's showing itself more).
Our life didn't change much in the first round of lockdown last year and I think I can say that we're all?actually?homebodies and love to be at home, so things have been going smoothly. I've tried to bring new stuff into the house (games and new things to explore) and it's been fun. Conchinha is a huge gamer and so her online life has also played a huge part in helping her go through these times,?as I know has happened with a lot of other?unschooling gamers in this group. ;) She finally felt like she knew enough English during the summer to start chatting with English-speaking online gamers, so her world expanded a bit more (and her English improved tons!), which was so cool to witness.
More recently, I feel like the stress is piling up on all three of us. Bruno feels exhausted most of the time and has had his share of scares with the virus?and his co-workers testing positive, and then him needing to be isolated for days at home, until he's sure he didn't catch the virus. Conchinha has been having some moments of needing to cry and vent, saying she misses being with people and that she feels tired of all this. She's also been having a rough time going to sleep. Actually, she'll tell me that she doesn't want to go to bed because she'll start thinking about bad stuff (I think her thoughts have to do with her dying or her dad and I dying) and doesn't know how to stop those thoughts. I've tried some things with her (watching Minecraft videos in bed, giving her a massage on her feet or hands or back, telling funny stories and laughing tons, chatting, playing word games), and some nights those ideas work, other nights they don't.
Conchinha is 11, turning 12 in May, and she's liking going through hormonal changes too. I know that this can be a phase where some restlessness also plays a part in our lives, so adding that to the pandemic and, voil¨¢, I believe it can be a normal thing for her to be going through this with some stress involved.
I guess my request to this awesome group is two-folded:
- on one hand, I would like to have some more ideas to help Conchinha with her thoughts and fears (plus, I wonder if there's something I'm not seeing);
- on the other hand, I need some ideas to change our days up a bit, because I also feel like we're in a rut.
Thank you in advance for any insight and ideas you might have!
Marta Venturini
Lisbon, Portugal
