My Top 10 Food for Thought During MCO (5/10)

5. Love our children and lead them through this season I have a confession to make here: I have neglected my children during the early phase of MCO. I was obsessed with my handphone, checking on the news every now and then. My mind was so occupied by COVID-19: the latest statistics in our country, the red zones locations, the contact tracing or clusters of infection, the possible remedies, on-going research for remedies or vaccine, the pathophysiology and the list goes on. Day after day, I have failed to spend quality time with my children. Many nights, I went to bed with this guilt towards my children. I cannot recall when was the last time I have quality fun time with them. During the pandemic lockdown, my daughter has been wanting to play Snake & Ladder board-game with me. However, I always have 101 tasks on my daily To-Do List which keep me from granting her wish. One morning, I woke up with the intentional decision that I must grant her wish on that day. That evening, after putting my son to bed, we finally got to play Snake & Ladder together, just mommy and daughter, without the disturbance from the little naughty brother. It was a wonderful bonding session; the joy on my daughter's face, is priceless. That evening she went to bed with much contentment.

Do you know that our children are at lost too with what is going on? Everything about this COVID-19 and the lockdown? Both my son and daughter have been asking questions like when can they return to school; why can't they go to school, playground, church anymore? I can see from my daughter's drawing that she terribly misses those days and experiences of outdoor, hiking, picnic, hot air balloon festival, school and church activities. Being parents, we explain to them the serious ill-effects of COVID-19; that Daddy and Mommy do not have the answer to when everything can return to normal again. But the least and yet the most powerful action we can take is praying for God's merciful divine intervention to break down this deadly pandemic. Being citizens of Malaysia, all of us including young kids can do our parts by complying to the MCO; by staying at home where it is the safest. Weeks after weeks, my children now start to look forward optimistically. Guess what, they started discussing about their top three wish-list for post COVID-19-MCO. Perhaps we just need to learn from our children of their child-like faith and their optimistic outlook of life. Don't you agree?