2020: It was THAT year
2020 has hit all of us pretty hard, but meeting and seeing (through Zoom) so many of you new out there we wanted to pay tribute to how hard its been for you this year. We feel very blessed to know Leander Moore AKA The Postpartum Poet who has attended our classes the past couple of years. She has written a poem especially for all of you out there... enjoy.
It was the year 2020.
It was a year of cancellations, and making do,
Lowering standards to just get us through.
Baby classes online, seeing family on Zoom.
Doing everything from the safety of our living room.
Desperately holding on to routine
With the futility of trying to keep the house clean
Books, socks, teddies and pens lined the floor
(I’d have panicked if my house looked like this before)
But our expectations and standards dipped,
Not neglected, not unkempt, not slipped
But a conscious decision to sustain a balance
Repeating the mantra; ‘Worse things have happened’.
Just going with the flow, and letting the small things go.
But as we all know
It was a year of momentous family eruptions,
In these rough restricted isolations.
Short fused
When anyone used
Too much loo roll.
It was a year of excitement when the ASDA driver came
The surprise substitutions made it feel like a game.
What nappies, or formula will be delivered this time?
Calpol is still out of stock – I’d better find it online.
But we learnt to relinquish control.
We learnt to take care of ourselves.
It was a year that we learnt that only the basics got done.
We remembered that our own rainbow would come.
We remembered to laugh, and jump and dance
And enjoy our children growing, because this was a chance
To restart, take it back, relax. Be together.
Engage with nature, whatever the weather.
It was the year we played Jekyll and Hyde,
Because, this year, somewhere inside
We were also ‘that mum’ that was overly cautious,
Anxiety, guilt, leading to feeling nauseous.
Cancelling indoor play dates, and saying no,
But still looking for outdoor places to go.
It was the year we felt defeated,
Settling on babysitting with too much screen time,
Which before the pandemic was definitely not fine.
Feeling a boulder of guilt weighing down on our chest
Balancing parenting and working – doing our best.
And yet when the schools opened, like a breath of fresh air,
Doubt, more guilt, an overwhelming despair
Drenched us. We questioned, “It is safe?”
It was the online meetings like Robert Kelly on BBC
When his daughter was in the background and he
Attempted to continue the conversation
Whilst his children wandered in, his wife in desperation;
But, now we get it. We know. We’ve done it.
(And if anyone complained, I’d tell them to shove it)
It was a year of regressions: sleep, behaviour, toileting training.
It was a year that social distancing needed explaining
That is was to keep you safe, not that no one liked you.
It’s difficult to understand when you’ve just turned two
And a hug with your friends is, naturally, what you are used to.
It was a year when illness was dramatically masked,
And lies protected when our children had asked,
“Why’s Mummy in bed?”
(I’m not even sure what their Dad had said).
We clapped, we shared, we walked, we called
We sat, social distanced, on friends’ driveways and bawled
Into our flask of coffee, glad of friendly interaction.
Eager for a simple, reassuring distraction.
But it was also a year where we all supported together,
Separated physically but regardless of whether
You were a new mum of one, experienced with six,
Pregnant, adopting – we were all in the mix.
And bloody hell it was hard, and the challenge hasn’t gone
But let’s hope that life’s better in 2021.
Leader has 2 Books out "What Rhymes with Mum?" and "Mothers Taboo" You can buy here: What rhymes with Mum?: A book of postpartum poetry: Amazon.co.uk: Partington, Leander: 9798603781297: Books
Follow her at
Instagram: @postpartumpoet Facebook: @postpartumpoetry