I used to be a runner, I ran everyday, I love the challenge of breaking my own record. Running kept me on track in every sense of the word. But something changed six months after I gave birth to my third child at the age of 42, I stopped training, I stopped running.

It was mid March when Vietnam imposed the first national lockdown, determined to contain the spread of the unknown and life threatening virus namely, COVID-19. It was the first time for both my 13 years old son and I heard of the word, ‘lockdown’. I knew the word ‘curfew’ well because I am the mother of my two now adult children. But I am still too young or too fortunate in my grandparents’ eyes to experience any form of curfews. 

With the school closed in the past few months, our children have been spending most of their days at home attending online classes, meeting deadlines and preparing for assessments. It certainly keeps our children's minds active and provides some form of normality amid our current abnormal circumstance.