Photographer and new mom Caitlin Cronenberg tells The Globe and Mail how she’s spending her days at home.
Caitlin Cronenberg with her new baby.Supplied
It’s a strange situation for me because I had a baby two months ago, so I was already in the new mom cocoon when COVID-19 hit. I also had not taken many jobs in 2020. My work involves a lot of travel, and with a new baby and a four-year-old son, I couldn’t be gone every week, or every other week.
Finding ways to keep the four year old busy has been interesting. With the parks and schoolyards closed, we kind of walk in circles around the neighbourhood. Before we’d see a neighbor out walking their dog, and we’d stop and visit. Now they cross the street to avoid us. I used to think that strike days were tough. Now, I’d kill for a strike day.
Before all this, I’d have visitors pretty much every day to see the baby. Now I put the phone right up to the baby’s face so we can FaceTime with grandparents and cousins. We also have a shared family folder so I can upload pictures of the kids. It’s all about how you want to spend this precious free time that we’ve never been given before. You can treat it like a gift and learn new skills (like everyone else, I’ve been baking a lot of bread), or you can get stressed out and let it consume you. Our society was all about going as fast as we possibly could. If there is a silver lining, it’s that we’ve all been forced to take a collective deep breath.
– As told to Gayle MacDonald
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