Pandemic Parenting: Angela’s Story | Vancouver Family Photographer

Three years ago, a wonderful mom client of mine squealed with delight when I shared the news of my pregnancy with her while dropping off her newborn print order. I already knew she was the most genuinely kind soul, and her family so loving, fun and a true joy to work with after doing their daughter’s first photos a few weeks prior.

I was thrilled when they chose to take part in my Pandemic Parenting Project this summer, aimed to highlight the real experiences of families and their unique challenges during 2020/21 and to illustrate their love and unity as a family.

What struck me the most was the undeniable love and joy in this family, even through so many challenges and the heartache they were enduring. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much or felt so much emotion during a family session, so it was truly a special day to remember.

Please read this family’s story, and leave some love for them in the comments!

“The home of a blended family, with mom, dad, 18 year old daughter, 7 year old son, and 3 year old girl already makes for a busy household, but layer in a pandemic, and things get really crazy.  At the start of this pandemic, both Ken and I had to switch to working from home. We both had a significant increase in workload, but I also got a job promotion with more responsibility added. All three kids were home with us all day, every day. It wasn't easy because the two younger ones fought with each other and for our attention constantly. Our son, who was five years old at the time, had just started to thrive in Kindergarten, but really struggled without the structure of school, the stimulation of learning, and the social interaction with other children his age. We also moved my elderly mom into our home so she wouldn’t have to suffer through this alone.

The theme of how we coped was 1) getting help from others and 2) maintaining connection with our friends. We were able to hire a nanny to help take care of the kids so we could both concentrate on work during the day. We reached out to mental health professionals to help to gain skills on how to support our kid’s challenges and we talked to therapists on how to focus on self-care and working together as a team. We missed the connections with our friends and family so we organized distanced outdoor gatherings when it was safer last summer. When cases starting going up again, we switched to virtual hangouts. On Friday evenings after the kids went to bed, we had happy hour with friends over Zoom video calls.

One blessing was that because my mother was living with us, we were able to detect that she had a blood clot and got medical attention quickly. Unfortunately, the full diagnosis turned out to be terminal cancer. So the other true blessing is the time that we have been able to spend time with her, take good care of her, and hear her laugh with the kids every day. We appreciate all the special moments that we have had with her.

The pandemic has made us realize we can handle anything crazy that the world has in store for us because our family is in it together and we will face any challenge as a team. We can't wait to re-discover the world and see our friends and family in person again. There is a much greater appreciation for things when they are taken away and we are going to come out of this stronger and better as a family.

Since originally submitting this story and very shortly after doing the photo session, my mom passed away. We will always be grateful to Kim for giving us this opportunity to have this last experience together and for capturing those moments with mom and her grandkids.”