Living in Lockdown

We’re all living in challenging situations at the moment and my family, like millions of others, is living in circumstances we’ve never experienced before.

I have three children – a boy (aged 8) and two girls (aged 5 and 2). Like so many others, my husband and I are juggling looking after the children and helping them with their work, entertaining the little one, doing our own work and keeping up with all the other jobs around the house. Keeping the kids safe is the constant thread running throughout our day. I’ll be honest, it’s tiring. It’s also noisy!

Thankfully, the weather has been really good and we have a garden for the children to play in so we’ve had lots of break-times outside. We have been doing a lot of jobs in the garden and unfortunately I fell off the top of a 6ft ladder whilst wrapping solar lights around a tree trunk. Luckily there were no major injuries but lots of bruises. I have now learned to risk assess the area where I want to do jobs like this and ensure I have a helper there to steady the ladder for me!

There is so much to think about and consider in the home and garden, like garden chemicals in the shed, trampoline safety, BBQ safety and hot drinks in the house. I have found RoSPA’s Accident Free, Avoid A&E campaign really useful to learn about these topics in order to keep myself and my children safe around the home.

It’s also been good to chat to the kids about safety during this time and to help them learn. The main challenge I have had is getting my kids off their screens – especially my boy who is really into gaming. The vast majority of the time, we are all really enjoying this extra time we are getting to spend together but it will be nice when the restrictions are relaxed a bit so we can visit grandparents and it will be great for the children when the schools and playgroup reopen. 

By Jen Foley
Mum-of-three, Edinburgh