That’s not counting the dozens of times this week we’ve had to jump from the couch in feigned panic when Jed spontaneously announces, “the floor is lava!” necessitating a mad scramble to retrieve every last cushion or pillow from every last corner of the house to scatter across the floor like stepping stones to avoid the boiling hot magma covering the surprisingly resilient carpet.

Parenting is hard. Parenting in lockdown is harder.

They say it’s easier to have one child than multiple, but sometimes I wonder. The only playmates Jed has in lockdown are Ben and I. There are no siblings.

There is Kinder once a week – but no parks, no shops, no “village”, and it takes a village to parent. When the village is in lockdown it sucks!

We’ve tried to make things interesting. We’ve read books, played soccer, made popcorn, constructed a jail, bought a rabbit.

But this kid’s appetite for entertainment is insatiable and Ben and I aren’t talented enough – either at early childhood education or method acting – to compensate for the outside world of parks, shops and other little kids.

We miss the village, and today when we were at a particularly exhausted ebb, the village came to us.

After a tip off via Messenger, I mentioned to Jed that a little parcel had been left on the old park bench on the fence line of our backyard. Our neighbour “Caloryn” (Carolyn) had placed a present over the fence with a little note saying “Hi Jed, I bought some Kingston bickies. Here’s a couple for you! Ps Tully says hi!”

[FYI Tully is a cat and kind of a big deal – she has her own Instagram].

Sure enough, inside the parcel were two Kingston “bickies” which Jedi loves. He was delighted! It made him feel very special. It was an important reminder that although we’re apart, we’re not so far away.

Because of everyone’s hard work and commitment, the end of lockdown is not far away either.

Stay safe. Stay connected. And get vaccinated as soon as you can. Your village needs you.