COVID-19 Quarantine in a Singapore Hotel: a Parent's Experience

24/5/2020

COVID-19 Quarantine in a Singapore Hotel: a Parent's Experience

This post is about our quarantine experience in a Singapore Hotel, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read about how we spent the 14 days there.

Hi this is Milton! Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my sis-in-law Adeline Kang was quarantined with her family in a hotel in Singapore after relocating back from Sydney recently. It is a law in Singapore that whoever returns from overseas has to serve a "stay-home notice" of 14 days before they can leave their home or location of quarantine. She has graciously allowed me to share her story on this blog. If you are keen to read about her parenting and products review blog called "Ader IBlog", do check it out here. Without further ado, read her quarantine story below!

Part 1: Practicing Thankfulness

We are a family comprised of Singaporean Mum, Australian Dad, 8 year old daughter and 6 year old daughter who were born in Singapore and lived in Australia for the past 5 years.
Due to Mum taking on a new job opportunity, the family decided to relocate back to Singapore.

However the relocation timing was coincidentally right smack in the middle of circuit breaker period and on Thursday 9 April 2020, the Singapore government announced that all citizens arriving into Singapore (irregardless of origin) would be issued a Stay Home Notice (SHN) and allocated a hotel to serve their 14 day SHN before they are allowed to head home.

We had mixed feelings about having to serve SHN in a hotel instead of heading home to unpack our mountain of 116 boxes that had been successfully shipped from Australia to Singapore, however we decided to embrace this turn of events as an opportunity for the family to get some rest. After all, the past 6 weeks had been hectic with me and the hubs wrapping up our previous jobs, preparing the Sydney house for sale, packing and searching for a place to stay in Singapore, and coping with the kids shifting to home based learning in Sydney for 2 weeks before we left the country.

So the kids are actually in Easter school holidays mood and hubby and I could really do with some well deserved rest after physically transporting 10 bags of check in baggage and 7 carry on plus 2 kids across continents to Singapore. Not to mention the unnerving emotions we had to cope with:

• Getting on a rescheduled SQ flight when our initial flight was cancelled, splitting the kids and I from hubby due to uncertainty if Hubby will be allowed to enter Singapore, calling SQ only to realize most flights until 13 Apr were cancelled.

• Waiting for Singapore government to approve Hubby to enter with kids even though he is not a citizen or PR or long term pass holder (and can't apply for Long Term visit pass without entry DE number into Singapore).

• Waiting for the Australian government to approve my hubby and kids exit from Australia (which we only received 2 days before our scheduled flight).

• Stressing about how our furniture and beds will reach our house if our movers have to have mandatory office closure, and whether possible to apply for exception.

• Making the decision to sell our house in 1 month and cancelling the auction when we got an offer just in time before isolation measures enforced by NSW government meant all auctions cancelled just after we sold our place.

I am already one of those lucky ones who had a huge support network and so many friends and family chipping in to help me so that we are able to accomplish everything (more or less based on the initial plan) despite the restrictions imposed by this crisis. I really want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported our physical and emotional transition during this relocation back to Singapore. Hopefully after circuit breaker, I can use the rest of this year to properly thank every single one of those wonderful people in my life.

So now that you understand the context of our move, let's come back to the purpose of this blog post. It is really to share how we can all cope with this situation to #stayhome. For my family, we were allocated adjoining rooms at the Pan Pacific Hotel, one of the rooms that has an amazing view of Marina Bay Sands and Merlion and our beautiful CBD skyline.

The first tip I want to share is my life mantra that was shared with me by my husband. "Don't stress about what you can't control, and just make the right choices for things you can control" This simple mantra will help release a lot of burden from everyone if you think about the daily restrictions of COVID-19 this way.

Whilst we can't control the infection rate or who gets infected, we can help to contain the infection by staying home, so we need to make the choice to #stayhome and #stopthespread.
I can't control the situation of which hotel my family was allocated, nor the meals being delivered to the door everyday, but what I can do, is to think of the positives of this situation, such as:

• I'm here in this room with the people I love most in this world.

• None of us are sick, except for my 6 year old who "merlioned" (vomited) a little on herself and hubs in the bus due to nausea.

• So grateful that the stay and meals, even the transportation from the airport are government paid.

• The children behaved really well helping to carry their own bag packs (stuffed with toys by the way) throughout the journey, even though those bags were heavy...think water bottles, Shopkins Tall Mall filled with Shopkins, and their precious stuff they could not bear to check in in case baggage got lost.

• We were allocated one of the best adjoining rooms in the hotel with a view that would have been worth alot of money during the National Day Parade (NDP) or Formula 1 (F1) weekend.

• We have TV with cable channels and unlimited Wi-fi. So entertainment is definitely covered.

• The beds and pillows and sheets are comfortable so we can have a good night's sleep.

• There is a big multipurpose work desk which you will see served as a good place for taking Instagram photos as well as for work and play.

• We have fully functioning toilet bowl with bidet, shower and bathtubs so the kids are taking baths everyday.

In summary, take a piece of paper and do what I just did, write down everything you are thankful for during this challenging time and you will see that there are so many positive things around us. Just remember, things could be worse, and are worse for many of the less fortunate.

So during these sensitive times, if you have spare time to worry and whinge, why not volunteer to help the less fortunate or focus on doing something more constructive. Remember, you are in control of your choices, and making the right choices amidst the limitations and restrictions is what you can control.

Part 2: REBAX

For the parents out there who are struggling with work from home and supporting their kids with home-based learning (HBL) and keeping their kids busy the rest of the time whilst coping with household chores including cooking... maybe my next life mantra might work for you: Lower your expectations and prioritize.

If you are feeling stress trying to make EVERYTHING work, give yourself a break. Understand that you are now in a very different situation to how things used to be, and really it is ok to not do everything perfectly. RELAX and REBAX. (Rebax is actually a word taught to me by my firstborn, when she was a toddler and the meaning of this word is a phrase of "take a step back and relax" or "relax and lie back". Physically the word means relaxing and lying comfortably back in a chair or bed, so essentially relaxing "a lot".)

So Rebax and ask yourself, what is the most important thing now to prioritize on? Set your goals for what you want to achieve for work, and for HBL and then be practical about whether you can actually do everything. If you can't, it is just reality and you need to de-prioritze some things.

It is not a reflection of your capability as a parent just because something goes wrong during HBL. Internet goes down, can't access ZOOM or Microsoft Teams, kid is tired and doesn't want to log onto HBL or do homework? Remember: some things happen beyond your control. So you have to let it go. If it happens, just think: "Rebax, what can I do now?"

Keep communication lines open with the teachers, with your leaders, with your staff etc via WhatsApp or email so that you can let them know when technology fails you.

Can't access HBL or kids not willing to study? Don't stress. Maybe they just need a break and just REBAX for a couple of hours. Let them do something else instead, something they like etc.
This is the mantra that will keep you sane throughout this period, and it is what keeps me going during SHN in a hotel room I can't leave for 14 days.

So what tips for parents to cope with being in an enclosed space with your child 24 hours a day?

1. This is a good opportunity to introduce better sleeping habits to your child. Make them sleep from 8pm-6am, proper 12 hour sleep cycle. You can google the benefits of better rest and enough sleep for children from reputable resources. If your kids are always sleeping late, it is likely one of the reasons they act up during the day, and it is not what you need now that you are at home with them all day.

2. Another good chance for you to improve affection and skinship with your children. Hug, kiss, cuddle, rub noses, tickle the kids whenever you have the chance, now that you are at home with them. Small gestures of love and affection will really improve both of your moods throughout the day and will really make the day so much easier to pass.
My morning routine always includes morning cuddles with my girls for at least 10-20 minutes before we get out of bed.

3. Make the kids accountable for their own HBL and what they want to do throughout the day, especially older kids. But they have to show you their plan and you need to ask them why they planned it that way and give them advice. Hold them accountable to what they finish or not finish and don't be too ambitious.

4. If you already have a punishment system in place, remember to also introduce a reward system to be balanced. As positive motivation actually works better and is more effective than negative punishment. But the choice of reward is very subjective, as different children are motivated by different things. Parents should know best what would motivate their child most, and if they don't, there is no harm to just ask. Kids nowadays go from one favourite to another so quickly anyway. So don't be afraid to just ask them what they like and why they like it. Then make them accumulate credits or earn their rewards through actions. This is a great way to teach kids how to earn their keep, and they are likely to appreciate more what they get as a result of their hard work.

5. Exercise with the kids. We have been doing this everyday. We can't leave our room so the hubs is training the kids on sit-ups and push ups and I'm playing music on MTV for us to have a dance party. Empower the kids so everyone in the family gets to lead exercise time. My youngest is doing her ballet stretches and teaching us warm up exercises and planking. If your child is shy and doesn't like to take the lead, it's ok as long as they are happy participating. Key point is just use this time to have fun.

Doing the exercises 100% perfect is not a requirement. If you have more than 1 kid, likely that some of the kids will be bossy and try to tell the other kids/parents off around certain actions. At this time, just tell them to stop being bossy and that everyone has their own pace and way to do the actions and move on. If fights or quarrel starts, just stop the activity and let them know that getting along is a prerequisite to having fun. Or if they prefer you can stop and they can go back to doing homework.

6. Check TV schedules and plan TV time around the programs you approve the kids to watch. As we have cable at the Pan Pacific Hotel, I've started a game called random TV quiz. We switch to a channel like History 2 which we don't normally watch, and then make the kids tune into the program telling them that they have to answer a pop quiz about what they watch at the next advertisement break.
Yesterday the kids watched a program about "The Lost Pyramids" and "Forged In Fire" and we had a lot of fun answering pop quiz questions which helped them learn about pyramids, pharaohs and tombs. Forged In Fire introduced them to blade-smiths and Greek mythology although a bit of violence with a severed fake Medusa head and stone Krakens might be scary for some kids.

7. Talk to the kids about what they watch on tv, YouTube etc and hear what they say. This is where you can pick up on any bad influences if there are. I am specifically not a fan of this program on Nickelodeon called "Henry Danger". The first time I watched it, the supposed kids comedy had children stealing a piñata from a shop and kids at a birthday party coming together to violently beat up a clown vs the piñata. With laughter playing in the background. I did not switch the channel and stop my girls watching it but I did immediately say to my girls "what a terrible show! You just never just take something from a shop that is not yours. That is stealing and you can get arrested for it. It is not funny at all and this show has totally misrepresented what will happen to you if you do so." "How can they think it is funny to get together to beat up a person? It is not funny and is actually really mean and only bullies will do such a thing to inflict pain on others and laugh about it"

I then switched off the show and started talking to my girls about the reality of bullying and asked them how they would feel if someone stole their stuff and beat them up. It is important to "nip it in the butt" when it comes to morals and values. Kids are exposed to so much media today that might be showing the wrong things. Kids need to learn to decipher and develop an opinion about what is right or wrong and parents are there to help them shape their moral compass.

8. Find activities that lead to more activities so that it keeps the kids busy when you need some time to work or do other stuff. In the next part, we will share about all the fun activities we have been doing during our time at our hotel.

Part 3: Activities we did for entertainment and learning

So what activities did we manage to do to keep our family entertained?

First and foremost, it was important for everyone in the family to respect that our hobbies are different and we all can have our personal space to do what we like most.

This means Daddy gets to play as much Nintendo Switch he wants all day and he is not obliged to take turns playing with the kids or engage in the activities the kids want to do, if that is what he prefers. You will realize that coercion of any individual to partake in a group activity, just because the rest of the family is doing it, will only lead to squabbles. And fighting when you are confined to a small and limited quarantine space will just make things unpleasant and not enjoyable for everyone.

So we proceeded with several activities below without requiring my husband to join us:

1. Bath bomb factory
We transformed the desk in the room into the bath bomb factory and reused the plastic containers that used to contain salad and fruit to make the DIY bath bombs. Every time we made 1 bath bomb each and each bath bomb was rationed to be used for the next couple of days. This took up easily 1-2 hours of our time and was good fun when we submerged them to see the effect the next couple of days. The kids loved to experiment with the colors and the designs of the bath bombs, and of course they loved the color of the water in the tub and the fizzing during bathtime.

2. Nagomi pastel art - keep those little fingers busy
One of my friends started conducting classes for this pastel art form so I contacted her to buy a start up pack which was delivered to our room during the first week of quarantine. She then gave us an orientation lesson which took almost 2 hours, but the kids learnt to use their fingers to create artwork in the form of cards and bookmarks.
Applying color, erasing using stencils and using kneadable erasers was all part of the fun creation process. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with my pal too and jump on the bandwagon to learn a new way of expressing ourselves. We had so much fun creating and then posted these cards and bookmarks out to our friends and family (via hotel concierge). After making the cards, the kids also spent a good amount of time writing to their friends on the back of the cards.
Throughout our 14 day quarantine, I participated in multiple workshops organized by Heart in Hand Atelier to learn how to make new versions of the art and then spent time teaching the kids what I learnt. Take a look at the art work and you will see how lovely the final products were!

3. Making art from recycled materials
Get the kids to go around and find what they can to just create something. I challenged the kids and they made me a castle. This will keep them busy for a bit.

4. Start a YouTube channel for the kids.
The kids had their Shopkins with them and were playing a lot of make-belief scenarios so we though it would be fun to make them responsible of rehearsing and coming up with their own Shopkins stories. The kids became mini scriptwriters and directors of the videos to be uploaded to the channel. I supported as the camerawoman. We even threw in the lion king ooshies to guest star as parents and grandparents...it was great fun for a couple of days and keeps the kids busy for hours, onscreen and off!

5. With a simple whiteboard or plain paper and marker, we played Wheel of Fortune and Spelling games throughout our quarantine. My girls enjoy getting points when they guess right and then cashing in their points for tablet/screen time. We also played games to learn basic Chinese phrases, and I swapped and changed the games everyday so that it would not be boring.

6. I also started the kids watching documentaries and current affairs programs like Channel News Asia's UndercoverAsia. These programs are only suitable for kids if we adults watch together and answer their questions about what is being portrayed on screen. My girls learnt a lot about the real situation of water pollution, air pollution and the challenges of the farmers in the agriculture nations around Singapore. They also enjoyed watching CrimeWatch, and how the Singapore Police Force brings criminals to justice.

14 days of quarantine actually flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to go home. We continue to be isolated at home now as the Circuit Breaker (CB) continues, however the kids have so much more to do now that we are back in a much larger space than the 2 bedrooms we had in the hotel.

Some of the activities and tips I still apply to our time at home now to keep ourselves busy, except the kids have a few more distractions like Lego, the piano and scooting on the rooftop terrace that can keep them busy.

Hope this blog post will be helpful to provide some ideas for those who have to serve their stay home notice (SHN) or need ideas for their continued isolation during CB. Remember it is important to use this time well to reconnect with family and also to catch up on some well deserved rest. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy rest of 2020!

About the writer:
Adeline is a full-time working mum. She used to work with Japan Airlines, Visa and American Express Global Business Travel Meetings & Events. She has recently relocated from Sydney to Singapore. Her blog documents her daily experiences as a mum, consumer and frequent traveler. She also hopes her blog will be useful in providing tips to other working parents based on her own life experiences. Read her blog here.

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Milton Goh

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