Spanish Lockdown Day 5: We Keep a Schedule

One thing I am realizing about this whole Forced Confinement gig is that you absolutely must keep a schedule, or you will lose all sense of time, and anything you had planned will go right out the window. You also have to get dressed, and when you live in a house with multiple people (especially children) you need breaks from each other. Living on top of each other 24 hours a day is hard, even if you’re in a large house, and you need some space and quiet time.

Today we started our new schedule. The guy who owns Impact Gym in Marbella is doing daily kickboxing classes via Facebook Live at 9:30 each morning, so we do that as a family now. Afterwards we get dressed, and the Little One starts her schoolwork (which the teacher sends at 9 each morning) and I make a late breakfast.

We make sure we’re wearing real clothing, with shoes, and we’ve brushed teeth and washed our faces. Fifteen years of working from home prepared me for this part, but it’s even more important when you live with a kiddo who needs that structure in order to not bounce off the walls.

We do schoolwork until about 2, when we have lunch. After that comes Quiet Time. We all go to our own space and have an hour apart from each other. No screens allowed, although Little One can have her audiobook. That’s when I do admin work like pay bills while listening to Schubert. In the afternoon hubby takes over Kiddo Duty and they play outside in the yard, or she will chat online with friends on Zoom while I work for a bit. By 7:30 I make dinner, Skype with the grandparents, and then we have some family time reading or watching TV before bed. Little One goes to bed about 9:30, and I’m in bed by 11:30.

This is an ideal schedule for our days, and it’s one that I’m hoping we will ease into until it becomes natural, because everyone is saying that this thing is going to last way longer than the original 15 days.

I’m disappointed that I’ve strayed so far from my original goals this year, but these are extraordinary times, and so I’m doing my best to give myself some grace. Hopefully once this new daily routine is established and we have eased into life in confinement, I’ll be able to get back to some of those goals. For now, the main concern is keeping the food stocked, keeping Little One structured, and keeping all of us sane.