The great quarantine of 2020 through my life for a loop! Another one! When I first heard the news that all schools in Ohio were to be shut down for 3 weeks, I could not believe it. I didn’t remember ANYTHING like this happening before, I really do not think that it had by that point. And had even joked with my kids that I did not think that they would be going back to school for the remainder of the year. Thinking it was a joke, we made this sign to celebrate their last day of in-person learning, and that they would be back in three short weeks. I was wrong. Very wrong. It ended up being their last day for the school year.
I was overwhelmed at the idea of being in charge of my second and fifth graders’ education WHILE watching my four-year-old AND two-year-old. In my old life, I was a teacher for 14 years, so I knew that I could educate them and knew many places to find the resources that I would need. But I had never done it with babies in tote. Overwhelming.
The other part of this is that it was so scary. Completely unprecedented. I hated the fact that I didn’t have another adult to bounce ideas and feelings off of. I didn’t want to get inside of my own head and make a scary situation so much worse. But much more important was the fact that I didn’t want the kids to be freaked out. I wanted them to remember this sudden, unexpected time as something fun. And that is where the idea of having a kid’s quarantine dinner party came from.
A Kid’s Quarantine Dinner Party
We were home alone at this point, just me and my four kids. No one came or left for weeks and probably months. I worked part-time from home and basically slid that to the back burner once we started ‘at home learning’. So we had some extra time on our hands!
I decided that it would be a great time to make a fancy meal just because and get down my china. We literally had never used it before, not even one time. It was purchased the dishes from my great aunt’s estate auction, and had it displayed but never ate on it. Well, that quickly changed.
We all got dressed up. The kids each picked their own outfits and did their hair. I created a menu for our “Fancy Fullenkamp Quarantine Feast”, and added some Coronavirus cells to the bottom. We cooked up a fancy meal, (fancy for us anyway!)
It was seriously so much fun! We practiced our etiquette. Our manners. And we sat and joked with each other again and again.
A fun memory
I often wonder what my kids will remember about the many quarantines of 2020. Will this be a highlight? I sure hope so! But who knows. It went so quickly and simultaneously took forever! The days seemed like they would never, ever end but looking back the time did go quickly. I really didn’t accomplish much, other than a massive fly picture made out of buttons that I have yet to hang. But we had fun and settled into a routine.
Was quarantine memorable. You bet! Did I have tons of fun with my kids? Absolutely. Do I want to do it again? Not a chance!
In the Blink of a Fly is led by Leah Fullenkamp. Leah is the mother of four young children. Their lives were tragically altered after a crash caused by distracted driving killed her husband and her children’s father. This website is the tale of them learning to live again and serves as a passion project to help prevent distracted driving and this tragedy from happening to someone else.
