Pandemic Parenting: Maria’s Story | Family of 5 Photo Shoot

As part of our Pandemic Parenting creative photo shoot, Maria shared her experience with being quarantined after discovering her and her two son’s tested positive for Covid. Read her story below to find out the toll it took on this family of five, and how they turned this negative experience into a positive one despite it all. Thank you for sharing you story Maria, I loved being able to capture such special images of your family during this outdoor golden hour session.

Maria’s Story

This pandemic has been extremely challenging for everyone, to say the least. Unfortunately, my own family got hit with Covid-19. My 5-year-old, 1-year-old and myself tested positive. Thankfully, my husband and our 3-year-old son tested negative. Three of us were quarantined in one bedroom for at least 10 days. So, if you can imagine how grueling the situation was – being stuck in a room while not feeling well, and having to mend for our two very young children. After 2 months, I am still healing from some lingering Covid affects. We are not an anti-mask family and we sanitize/wash our hands regularly. We tried our very best, yet sadly we contracted the virus.

Going through isolation took an emotional toll on all of us, including our kids. The eldest went back to school feeling embarrassed that he had Covid-19, which should not be the case. My second son felt left out and didn’t understand why he couldn’t be in the room with us during our isolation period. Both boys went through some trauma and we noticed it with some rebellious behaviours at home and at school.

Mental health awareness is so important not only for adults, but also for children and teenagers. Therefore, upon much reflection on how to turn a negative experience into something positive, our family will be hosting an event called #MyYVRpandemicstory. This event will give children and teenagers the opportunity to showcase their pandemic stories in a creative art form – dance, music, photography, painting/drawing, film, etc. We hope that this will be a form of relief for those families who struggled during the pandemic. We have gained, made sense of it, and learned a lot about ourselves during the last 15 months. As we look forward with optimism, this event will be a great way for any child to express and remember the challenges that they had to endure. We look forward in being inspired by your stories!