Quarantined with teenagers: Help, my daughter wants a chameleon!

29 Mar 2024Updated: 4 hours ago | 52 people are reading

Quarantined with teenagers: Help, my daughter wants a chameleon!

Journalist Hester Zitvast writes about what strikes her in the news, the media or everyday life. This time about quarantine life with adolescents. "If you had told me before this time of crisis that I would like to be locked up with teenagers in the house for weeks, I would have thought you crazy. But I enjoy it."

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give a glimpse into my new life to be clear about something: corona sucks. I am not going to glorify it in any way. So no Doutzen Kroes 'Thank-you-corona' expressions. Two weeks ago, my stepfather was hospitalized with corona and my mother is recovering at home. They had a hard time. I know up close that even a mild form is horrible. Nobody wants this.

Immortal

But what I never wanted was a confinement with two adolescents. I thought. Initially, that did not happen by itself. The adolescents, in all their immortality, saw no danger in the virus. So: 'Why am I not allowed to chill in the village?'

These were difficult discussions, which I admittedly did not always win. "Everyone was allowed to meet" and "They really kept their distance." So I admitted. Mind you, this was at the beginning of the crisis. When we also went shopping with the whole family.

Beautiful moments

The new reality has now landed. No, I don't lock them between four walls. That is also not possible. My son (19) works five days a week. My daughter (15) is in her graduation year and was last week with eleven classmates in a room for a test. She meets up with her boyfriend every now and then and she rides our horse away from others. But otherwise little to nothing happens. We stay inside and that provides very special, hilarious and beautiful moments.

Take last week. Since the corona crisis, the eldest two children have been sleeping with me and my friend and their father, my ex, comes to have dinner almost every night - he hardly sees anyone else. Last week we were treated to a powerpoint presentation by our daughter after the meal. She had seen a chameleon influencer on Instagram, who was shopping with the green animal in her hair, preparing herself and driving a car. She wanted that too.

Presentation

So we were presented with the properties, purchase price and supplies of the animal in speaking form. "You buy them in Bussum, which is a 32-minute drive," she concluded. Everything had been thought of.

We laughed badly and no, there will be no chameleon here. But it was certainly hilarious. And while the kids still spend a lot of time in their rooms, I see them more than ever. They bake cookies with the toddler and I gave them a cooking class for beginners. We always eat together, we have lunch almost every day. It's fun.

Nurture

Now that there is no more excuse for friends and there are no more crowded agendas with school and (sports) appointments, time for each other. And only now it lands with me, how little time there was. That is not an opinion about the pre-corona time, but a dry observation.

I also know that we will probably pick up the old rhythm without any problems and continue as if we have never been on hold. That is why I enjoy the conversations that are going on now. From the fun moments and the continuous interaction. It is unique that today's adolescent parents are allowed to experience this. And something to cherish pruning hard.

About the author

Hester (42) has a relationship with Taco and is the mother of two adolescents and a second-laying toddler. She detests sports, lives for food and is a co-founder of the Instagram account Living trial. But above all, she is a freelance journalist for various women's magazines.