Hi my name is Jan Wilson. I'm a senior. I broke my kneecap. The same moment as the COVID thing struck.

So I decided to do two things. One was to do a free writing course online. And two,

being in touch with people on Facebook that I normally wouldn't. So reaching out more,

just becoming more involved emotionally and other people's lives and doing the best they can.

This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm Corey Turner. And I'm on the cabinets and it's been a minute since we talk to each other and a lot has been going on.

Yeah, obviously there's everything that's been happening in the news, which is tragic and stressful.

It's almost possible to forget that we're now three months into a pandemic and that for many of us parents,

I know this is true for me, it's true for you. We're also three months into being home, not only working full time,

but also being with our kids full time. And now that schools out and most summer camps have been closed,

I've about to get even more complicated. A lot of people are working from home with minimal help and getting even an hour of time to yourself sometimes seems like a dream.

Like a dream, especially when to get there, you have to essentially rebuff your kids who are asking you to play a game or come outside or just do this.

It's really hard for me to say no.

Or the guilt that comes when you just kind of hand them a screen so you can say record a podcast.

I've never done that. Well, the good news for us, I don't know about our listeners out there,

but at least for me, I'm super excited that one of our own NPR colleagues, Michaeline DeClef,

was actually feeling this stress big time.

She's been working quarantined with her husband and her daughter Rosie, who is four.

She is like a firecracker, right? She is strongwilled. She goes through life with this intensity, which is fantastic.

She learns really fast and she's fearless. But you know, it's like when she wants something, there is like no giving in.

And it was these constant demands. Demands to draw norwalls, to play with video momma, make a sandwich momma, set up my Zoom circle time momma.

You know, all those little interruptions that completely obliterate your concentration.

I would lock the door. I slid down the bag of it and I just cried. I was like, what am I going to do?

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