'It's been really wonderful': One-child families move in together during COVID-19

Oscar and Violet, two young kids from separate one-child families, have been spending the last month of the COVID-19 pandemic building forts together, planting seeds in the garden and jumping on a trampoline.

And their parents have been able to work from home, clean the house more and enjoy their coffee in peace. That's because the families decided to move in to the same house and weather the pandemic together.

"I think the solution that we found is better for all of us now," said Anna Keenan, mother to four-year-old Oscar. "Both parents are more relaxed and the kids are certainly having more fun having a friend around."

It wasn't always that way. During the first two-and-a-half weeks of the pandemic, Keenan and her husband, Robert, were working from their country home in St. Ann's, P.E.I., while trying to take care of Oscar. 

'Tough on all of us'

"We just realized that it was tough for all of us," Keenan said.

"So we reached out to a friend of ours, Emily and her daughter Violet and said, 'Hey do you want to move into the house together?' So for the last month we've been a three-parent, two-kids household. And it's been really wonderful."

Keenan said they had all self-isolated enough to feel confident they didn't have the coronavirus. She said it has allowed all three parents to isolate more because, for example, they are making fewer trips to the grocery store.

"We think we've made a sensible public health decision, as well."

I think there's a lot of parents that are really struggling to be everything that they need to be for their kids at this really difficult time, when they're stressed about so many other things in their life, too.— Anna Keenan

Keenan said the isolation has given her added respect for early childhood educators.

"I think there's a lot of parents that are really struggling to be everything that they need to be for their kids at this really difficult time, when they're stressed about so many other things in their life, too," she said.

"I think this really highlights the value of our early childhood educators and they've been talking about needing a pay raise for a long time. I think after the coronavirus, that value is going to be so much more apparent to all of us."

Kids hit it off

As for Oscar and Violet, they are just happy to have a sibling of sorts, even if it's just temporary. They hit it off right from the start, Keenan said.

"Oscar and Violet ran outside together and started playing and for the first time in two-and-a-half weeks, you know, the three parents just sat and relaxed and had a breath," she said.

"And, you know, coffee in peace and quiet."

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