Family routines in UAE as office-going parents, school-going kids #StayHome

As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads, self-isolation is one of the key strategies in "flattening the curve" of infection rates. With routines disrupted and family members thrown into close quarters, coronavirus has literally changed the face of our homes. Home is increasingly becoming all the places we used to go. It is now doubling up as office, gym, theatre, play area, classroom and more. Work-from-home parents and kids practising distance learning are now together for more time and restrictions to go out have made them explore new opportunities to make their time at home more fruitful.

Taking a sneak peek into UAE homes, many are trying to adapt to new routines while skilfully managing different roles. And what most of them are enjoying now is the family time they all have.

Doing chores together, exercising on weekends

Malaysian expat Adila Tul is enjoying the extra time at home. As op-posed to a 4.30am alarm, she now enjoys the luxury of being in bed for longer. With grown-up kids, who are 17 and 12 years old, she is only held captive by her cleaning ob-session."I scrub, clean, polish, rinse, vacuum, dust and scrape! There is so much to do in the house to keep the villa clean, especially in these times," says Adila.

"My husband remains busy with his office work, mostly con-fined to a specific room in the house that functions as his office. After cleaning, I cook a little as my children are fasting these days. They feel it helps them to remain focused on their work, or else they keep aiming for the fridge.

"My husband also orders the grocery online during his breaks, keeping us well stocked. Over the weekend, we all exer-cise together."

Following a more disciplined approach, Adila says the boys in the house are tasked with weekend bathroom cleaning, as she and her daughter sweep, mop and fold clothes.

"The men need to do something, they live in the house after all," jokes Adila.

As net ball practices, taekwondo classes and outdoor sports stopped for the teens in the house, turning to music to cure the boredom is the only way out.

"Aiman strums the guitar while Alyssa plays the violin. It is so lovely to hear the children playing these instruments. It's so calming in these stressful times," says the proud mother.

Juggling with multiple career, household roles

Two-year-old Mishu is idle at home but his mother is not on a holiday. Like most companies, Valeriya Svalova's office has mandated their employees to work from home, which she finds jarring to adapt overnight.

"Kids don't understand the urgency of work calls. Often when I am talking to my boss, he comes screaming, hovering on my shoulders wanting to snatch my phone. When kids find their parents at home, they expect us to do things that we do over the weekend," says the Russian mother who wakes up early to respond to all work-related emails.

These are times when Mishu is kept busy with his father in their 'sad' (Russian for garden), getting his hands dirty and pulling out weeds in their kitchen garden. At other times he is busy jumping up and down in the trampoline as Anthony sits with his office laptop, tucked in a backyard corner, minding his toddler time-to-time.

Throughout the day, the couple switches between cleaning, cooking and baby care, as they candidly admit, it's difficult to efficiently juggle these multiple roles.

"Sometimes, I feel there is too much of chaos in the house. Mishu is asking for attention, we are shuttling between office and other household work. In the evening, we sit with our son's nursery work. Then it's about tidying up all his scattered toys, laying the table, dinner with TV and finally winding up," says Anthony.

"So, our home is serving as school, workplace, gym, theatre and even as beauty salon for Valeriya over the weekend," laughs the husband.

Dinner time is pushed far as there is no hurry

German expats Beatre Renaud and her husband Michael take turns to be in the kitchen. While cooking and baking is a daily drill, mealtimes have become more enjoyable now.

"My husband helps me a lot in the household chores as he is between jobs. So, we take turns to clean the house and are trying to be more creative with our meals. Kitchen demands have increased as more food needs to be cooked with everyone at home," says Beatre Renauld.

While 12-year-old Fedrick navigates his way through school time independently, sometimes chatting and laughing with his classmates on his daily webinar, eight-year-old Maxim often feels lonely finishing his school tasks alone.

"For my younger son, I have to download worksheets, and he then sits and completes those. He feels bored working alone and wants me to be by his side as there is hardly any virtual interaction with his classmates, unlike my older son. So I have to help him out and be a proxy school companion."

As people are hunkering inside homes, the Renaulds are definitely fostering the family bond.

"In our mundane lives, these are basics that go past us in the rut of our otherwise demanding lives. So, we are catching up on those. These days in the evenings we watch Internet TV or a nice DVD together, do video chats with our families and friends, and dinner times have been pushed as there is no rush to go to bed," adds Beatre.