Sara Sandstrom-Kobi, Peak to Peak. Another day of attempting to work and giving the kids a little school time. By the afternoon I think I had told them four different times, “In five minutes we will work on writing.” There is no way around it, working from home and teaching my own kids is hard. 

Putting off the school work, I sat down to write an article and couldn’t help but notice birds making a lot of noise outside. They were on our homemade birdfeeders! 

Do I dare sneak out of the house and try to take a few photos? If the kids come out, they will make too much noise and scare them away. One kid is playing with dolls and the other is playing some Star Wars games. I think I can get out undetected. 

I get outside unnoticed and start snapping pictures of the birds. Then, I hear a door slam and, “Hey, Mom what are you doing?” 

I turn and firmly shush the kids running toward me. Then, I stopped and realized that I have become my mother. My mom became an avid birder when I went to college. A new hobby to fill her time with no more kids at home. This means that every time we are outside I am shushed when she is trying to see or hear a bird. Now I had done it to my kids. I have little interest in birding but the fact that I might get a great photo led to my sneaking out of the house and shushing the kids. 

I changed my tone and say that the birds are loving the bird feeders. We quietly watch them go from tree to feeder and down to the snow. We are thrilled that birds are loving something we made. They sound and look so happy as they flit around. 

Then, we spot a squirrel eyeing the feeder clearly figuring out how to jump onto the feeder. I have not been a fan of squirrels since one jumped on me and ran up my arm several years ago.  We nervously watch the squirrel fearing it will break the feeder and all the birds will leave. It jumps to the feeder. We hold our breath and then start shouting and waving our arms for it to get off. The birds seem totally cool with the commotion. The squirrel jumps off and runs up a tree. The birds get back to taking turns on the feeder. 

I realize I would not have been able to share this with my kids at that moment if we were not having to staying at home. Years from now we might even look back on these weeks as a great time together. Maybe not the most productive academic or work time, but more importantly some quality time with family. 

Parenting is challenging. Parenting during a pandemic is really challenging. I am going to try to see the little victories as great successes. And try to not be so quick to shush my kids. I wanted a little time to myself, but who do you think is going to be talking about that silly squirrel swinging on a pinecone for the next several weeks or even longer. 

(Originally published in the April 2, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)