The lives of most mothers underwent a drastic change – beyond the mere loss of their routines – when the coronavirus broke into their lives two months ago.
Working mothers lucky enough to have avoided or recovered from the virus are juggling work and childcare with impressive courage.
They are homeschooling their children while they work. They prepare breakfasts, lunches and dinners while they work. They do housework while they work.
And they even keep an eye on the time their kids spend in front of screens while doing all of the above.
And at the same time they have to deal with the feeling of guilt, stress, or resignation that comes from not doing any of those things the way they want.
For this reason, this year Mother’s Day should be called the day of the brave , as the Dosfarma pharmacy proposes in its campaign for Mother’s Day.
Tous , the Spanish jewelry brand, has also wanted to pay tribute to those women who have been mothers during confinement in its campaign for Mother’s Day.
And for this, as part of her campaign Welcome to the best place in the world: your mother will give one of her pieces to each of them to show them her support and leave them a memory that will remain in time.
And is not for less. The tasks that schools, educators, kindergartens or grandparents used to take care of now fall directly on fathers and disproportionately on mothers , while they have to continue with their work.
Women take on planning, organizing, and remembering everything that needs to be remembered. And the mental burden that comes with that extra work has grown exponentially in recent weeks.
Many have had to create their home office , where they have to be during confinement, and they are lucky if during a video conference one of their co-workers alerts them before their 4-year-old son throws the fish tank on the ground behind.
Interviews, Skype sessions and video conferences are preceded by the mothers’ warnings, listing the number and ages of children who are supposed to be doing homework, watching TV, sleeping, having fun with another member of the family. But, realistically, they could interrupt at any time.
It’s surreal for many mothers, who often feel like their busy lives are keeping them away from their children. Now, they are spending more time with them than ever before, but not in the most conciliatory way .
So many other brave people have had to continue with their daily occupations – essential at this time -, going out to the battlefield without adequate protection , spending 8, 10 or even 12 hours working, and with the fear in their body of returning home with their family and infect them.
They wake up when the sun has not yet risen to get everything ready, and they are the main contact of their children’s teachers, which means that they receive any notification if someone does not turn in an assignment on time.
When they finally get home, they take off and disinfect everything they have put on . Sometimes they get exasperated with rude customers they meet at work, but they also try to leave that at the door.
This way, during the few hours that they are home and awake, they can focus on being with their family.
Even before school closures and stay-at-home orders were implemented, the balance was already clearly disproportionate for single mothers and women married to men who have traditionally spent less time – or not at all – caring for their children. .
Although men have nearly tripled the time they spend caring for children since 1965, and the number of men who are fathers and stay at home has doubled in the last 20 years, imbalances persist in what has been called the ” invisible work ” of parenting.
And amid all this chaos and imbalance, working moms still look for the silver lining : a quick hug before a conference call, or the pride of keeping a business afloat against adversity.
Tous , the Spanish jewelry brand, has also wanted to pay tribute to those women who have been mothers during confinement in its campaign for Mother’s Day.
And for this, as part of her campaign Welcome to the best place in the world: your mother will give one of her pieces to each of them to show them her support and leave them a memory that will remain in time.
I hope one of the positives we get out of all this is that we can all stop apologizing for having families .
Many of us have children. Children who are real humans, outside the confines of adorable images, and who are capable of interrupting work in unexpected ways.
At home are these children, now deprived of kindergartens, colleges, institutes and universities.
Suddenly – and certainly for some, shockingly – displaying measurable physical dimensions, and immeasurable physical needs, including an almost constant desire to be fed while being shown a really funny TikTok at the same time.
Children, even older ones, who need to express their frustration , especially now, in a very unscheduled way.
Children, who need to do all these things and even more and especially if their mother is in a work meeting.
And all that effort must be recognized.
A round of applause for all these multitasking women, a round for all those brave faces of the pandemic.
Kathie Sand always saw the world of beauty as the terrain on which to build her professional career, a goal that was clear to her when she was only 15 years old. Her great concern to expand knowledge led her to settle in Paris where she studied hand in hand with the best beauty professionals and with the most advanced techniques for skin care.