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That was Easter

So there we have it, that was Easter. I'm not sure if you had anything planned before lockdown, but it's been sad hearing about all of the special things people have been missing out on. Thankfully in my house we're a bit last minute with things like that. Then when it comes to special occasions, normally it's a source of stress, but this Easter, we at least knew we couldn't disappoint anyone.

I have to say that as far as Easters go, this one at least felt relatively normal and I hope yours did too, even if you were missing out on plans. For me, I was woken up early by my toddler, had a morning filled with chocolate eating and searched for treats left by the Easter bunny in the garden, all finished off with chatting to family and toddler strops.

I know it might have been nice to spend time with family but having Easter to look forward to really got me through the last week or so of lockdown. Let's face it the demands of being a mum, teacher, cleaner, friend, chef, entertainer and whatever else I've forgotten to throw into the mix have been demanding. But the focus of making Easter special for my little boy has been the best distraction, I might have to plan another Easter for next week.

The best bit though, well it had to be treating the weekend like a mini holiday. I didn't plan the weekend that way, but with all of the sunshine it just felt right to put my feet up, stick a bottle of wine in the fridge and get the paddling pool out. Outside of supporting my parents amazing charity I achieved very little, it's even taken me five attempts to write a blog I'm half happy with, but I completely turned the pressure off.

The problem with lockdown for me has been the pressure I've put upon myself. The pressure to keep everyone happy, fed and clean along with everything else. I'm sure a lot of you have felt that pressure too, especially if you are working from home or have kids you're teaching. Because, to top it all off, a lot of the ways of dealing with that pressure have been taken away from us too, a night out, a catching up with friends or simply going for a coffee.

But do we really need to put all of this pressure on ourselves? We were never really meant to be everything to everyone in our household. Take the parent teacher role for example, teachers are so much better at what they do because they aren't our children's parents. My child will happily shout at me when I'm doing something wrong or have a strop because he knows it's safe with me, I'm his safe place. Give him to someone else and he has the potential to be a model child.

A lot of the pressure I put on myself is because I'm a stay at home parent, so really keeping my child entertained while making my house tidy sounds like it should be second nature to me. But really, I'll share something with you, being a stay at home parent is all about survival and distraction. So, I haven't really got this all sorted at all, I'm just good at putting on a show in the best way I know how.

But, putting that aside, I've learnt some valuable things this Easter, things I'll be taking away.

I've learnt that I'm my own biggest critic as a parent, a blog writer and a friend. Nobody is expecting me to get everything right all of the time every time, other than myself. So really, there's no need for the pressure, it's ok to just try, and it's ok to say when we need help.

I've also learnt that we don't need to be away from home to really give ourselves a break or a holiday. If we simply allow ourselves to stop, eat, drink and play, then really we can have a holiday anywhere, even while we have nowhere we can go. I'm certainly going to be planning some more holiday time during lockdown, even if its only to give myself something to aim for.

So, on reflection I know this isn't anything like the Easters we've had, or the Easters we will have, but we're sure to be talking about it for years to come. I just hope that I don't forget that special occasions are what you make of them, even if they aren't ideal they can be pretty special.

Chocolate from the Easter Bunny
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Saturday, 15 February 2025