Mother’s Day: Even amid coronavirus, mums continue to look after us

AMID the coronavirus pandemic, the role of a mother has never been more important. This Mother’s Day gives us the chance to say thank you to the most important superheroes of all – our mums.

AUSMAT co-ordinator Abi Trewin with her children William, 17, and Ella, 16, at their Girraween home. Picture: Glenn Campbell

WITH two children about to finish high school, Abi Trewin has 17 years of mothering experience under her belt.

But not even her role as Director of Disaster Preparedness and Response for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre could have prepared her for the coronavirus pandemic, which has changed her outlook on motherhood forever.

“It’s mums and dads being asked to do more, educate their kids, supervise them and make sure they are being smart (with their hygiene and health),” she said.

“That’s how COVID-19’s changing families.

“In some ways it’s making families closer but we’re also seeing sides of our loved ones we haven’t before.”

Ms Trewin said it had also brought out an even stronger maternal instinct in her, unsure how to support her children William, 17 and Ella, 16, with no clarity on what tomorrow could hold.

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“People are frightened of what will happen to their loved ones, all mothers have the role of keeping families safe at home and navigating the fear that is very real,” she said.

“There’s future fear as well, what will my kid’s future look like? How will I support them to be successful when we don’t know what the new normal is? A lot of that planning as a parent has changed.”

Working so close to the virus is a concern but Ms Trewin’s support network means she knows her kids will be safe.

“From a personal perspective, spending time away is hard and adds to the stress. We’ve got excellent protective equipment but there is still the potential for you to bring that home,” she said.

“I think I’m really lucky, my partner for life is a fireman and he’s an incredible super dad and certainly takes up a lot of the slack for me while I’m away working.”

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Living in the Northern Territory means Ms Trewin is able to see her family with few restrictions as the NT leads the way out of lockdown.

But with her own mum down south, Ms Trewin feels for those interstate.

“It’ll be very quiet and low-key. The biggest impact for me is not being able give my mum a gift,” she said.

“I’ll probably get some choc and hopefully a cooked breakfast and a hug which (will be) very well received … we’re actually incubating chook eggs this weekend so hopefully they’ll hatch and I can play the role of mother chook too.”