Working from Home with Children During COVID-19

When I became a parent, my lunch hour became a non-negotiable. It was not work time or parent time. It was browse-social-media-time, shop-for-new-lipstick time, go-for-a-walk time, take-a-nap- under-my-desk time, eat-a-warm-meal-alone time. This practice kept me feeling whole. 

Then COVID-19 happened, and as a work-from-home parent with a 4- and 1-year-old (now 5 and 2), I have zero discrete portions of my day and no specific time to allow my mind to power down. My home life is my work life. My work life is my home life. My partner and I each hold down full-time jobs and share the additional full-time job of parenting our two young children. It’s messy. I’m overwhelmed.