Right now, as a result of COVID-19, I have had to collaborate with my daughters with the guidelines for the preparation of workshops and other school activities that I sometimes feel suffocate due to its magnitude. My name is Carlos F., I’m a professional in the field of geology, I am actually living in Vancouver, Canada thanks to my work.

Due to the pandemic, my employment contract has been suspended, therefore I am at home with my family. All this is new for me since due to my professional work, I was used to spending a long time at work and the time I spent with the family was the time of total rest and relaxation; for a few weeks, everything changed…. I am happy to share more time with my family, but the return to school is not very pleasant because there is too much school activity.

COVID-19, makes us feel more suspicious regarding the few people we meet every 8 days, taking advantage of the rules established by our authorities. Every time we use our elevator or common areas we ask ourselves: Is my neighbor using hygiene standards properly? Our desire is capital since we must protect ourselves and our families that are most precious. I think I am learning to value more my health, my time, my family, and everything around me. On May 20th, for example, I was a little sad, it was the birthday of my mother, who is an older person, I could not move to congratulate her, to give her a big hug, since, for her sake, I was required to limit myself to a video call and together with my daughters and my wife wish her a happy day.

Physical contact is a very ingrained limitation in these times. For my little ones, this situation of the pandemic is difficult, since restricting them from their daily games in the park is not easy. In addition to that, we were accustomed that in my days of rest we dedicated ourselves to rest and to visit new places among them, parks, zoos, visit the family and from one moment to the next, everything is restricted. For us all this situation marks us, but for my little girls, I think that the time spent at home is more mitigating, with a breakdown of school work and without rest, in addition to not being able to share time with their friends at school.