start speaking so two years back we brought coffee home to our surprise pasta started interacting with the dog and also with us as the pandemic struck last year it brought with it a lot of challenges for mothers like me i had to make my daughter understand why going to school was not the right thing now or why she couldnt play downstairs in our residential complex then came the challenges of her online classes though kids today are techsavvy we as parents had to learn the nittygritty of this entire online class setup but both mehboob alam husband and i decided not to interfere while she was attending her classes from home despite the fact that she is a slow learner compared to her peers making her more dependent on us could be a problem in future when our wfh period would get over so i request all parents not to put unnecessary pressure on kids with education during this time since we cant fully understand what they are going through mentally by staying cooped up at home for months recently we brought home our second pet luchi and now the three of them have a world of their own and its really helping my child sail through the pandemic debjani chatterjee alam food writermy days of isolation were the most difficult for me as a motherwhile i am a gynaecologist my husband is an oncologist and covid19 was a huge turning point in our lives both as healthcare providers and also as parents initially i was at home with my kids and only attending to emergency patients my husband would go to work check covid patients and isolate himself in a room for three to four days last year on my daughters birthday i got an emergency call as one of my patients csection delivery had to be done immediately i did the operation wearing a ppe kit and when i returned home i got a call from the hospital saying that the new mother tested covid positive it was a shocker for me as i didnt know whether i had already contracted the virus while operating her i took preliminary measures like taking steam had homoeopathy medicines but didnt break the news to my kids i isolated myself in a room in the same house those few days of isolation were most difficult for me i didnt have any domestic help at home for assistance as a mother all i could do to boost my childrens immunity was by making healthy food at home i also made sure i let my kids get enough sleep in the second wave when the virus is sparing no one i attend covid patients too though i have taken my two doses of vaccination there is always a lingering fear of contracting the virus somehow dr payal banerjee ray gynaecologist also treats covid patients at a city hospital