Living in a household of 10 people is never easy in normal everyday life, however, quarantine has only made it harder. When this all began, my siblings and I were excited to be in quarantine for two weeks because it meant no school, sleeping in, and no work. Our teachers and parents told us from the start that this was actually going to suck for us and we just laughed because we didn’t understand how, but now we realize what they were talking about.

Quarantine has caused extreme stress on us kids but also my parents. My dad now has to work at home in an environment that is usually loud and hard to focus in, and he often has to go outside to take phone calls with clients. My mom has to make sure all of us kids, who are in college, high school, middle school, elementary school and special needs school, are getting our work done. It is very stressful for her to manage Zoom calls with my younger sister, Jaycee, who is in kindergarten while also making sure my little sister Avery and my baby brother Tucker are safe and do not have anything chokable near them. She also has to plan out her day with Zoom calls that involve several therapies and classes for my special needs sister, Paityn. While doing all this, she also somehow manages to keep up with cleaning up the house, making us our meals, and never really getting off her feet until it’s bedtime. 

This coronavirus can be very deadly to my little sister Paityn who was born with partial Trisomy 13, epilepsy, and diabetes. My dad also has bad asthma and my two youngest siblings have compromised immune systems and show some signs of developing asthma. With the exception of my dad, my family has not left our house at all since the start of quarantine to decrease the risk of bringing the virus into our home. My dad has only gone out when necessary like to the grocery store or the pharmacy but is always wearing gloves and a mask when leaving. He keeps his distance and when he comes home he immediately washes his hands. 

This quarantine has also forced us older kids to step up a bit. In order to decrease the stress levels of our parents, we get our school work done together in the morning, we watch the younger kids while my dad is working and my mom is on a Zoom call with my other younger siblings, we clean up the living room when it’s a mess from my younger siblings playing with their toys, unload the dishwasher, do our own laundry, and sometimes make our own meals while also putting something together for our parents. 

As a family, we also decided to use this time as a time to bond. It’s not very common to hear that there are eight kids in one family and it’s something very special that I and my whole family get to experience, it is like a party of our own. We play board games, watch family movies, go outside in the yard on nice days, make Tik Toks, blast music, and so much more. 

While this may be an extremely stressful time for everyone and we are not sure when this will all be over, I am so thankful that I have formed a different bond with my entire family.