Caroline shares her experience of lockdown as part of her son's support team.
Monday 23rd March 2020 was already marked in my diary as significant before it entered the history books as the first day of the UK lockdown. It was the day I was meant to be travelling to Dornoch with my son Christopher and his support worker Ben to enjoy a much anticipated and needed short break after a long winter. As Christopher will repeatedly tell you we never arrived!
I feel fortunate that as I don't fall into any of the government’s 'at risk' groups, which means I have been able to continue to be a vital part of Christopher’s support throughout this time. And as with all families we’ve had to face separation from our family, in my case not seeing my daughter and her partner whilst lockdown measures are in place.
After enjoying a farewell meal with my daughter and her partner I immediately put a structure and routine in place to help support Christopher and his team. He and I would spend each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday together to enjoy lunch and an afternoon activity. I had no idea we would be blessed with the sunniest April on record.
The fantastic weather has meant we can go a short drive and find a quieter place to take our socially distanced walk. We keep to the same familiar destinations. Christopher loves his music, so we created our own 'carpool karaoke' with all those tracks guaranteed to have him bursting into song. And when we’re through the other side of this strange time, he'll have his own Covid-19 playlist.
When we return after our walk, Christopher feeds Brodie the cat who is usually at the front door to greet us.
This simple routine has been working well to provide much needed consistency and predictability. It has of course also been helped enormously by the good weather!
