Special | 14m 41s | Video has closed captioning.
We Stay In the House provides an intimate portrait of four mothers in New Orleans as they struggle to care for their families and themselves throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Between taking care of their children, finding time to work, and coping with personal loss and health crises, these women's stories represent the lived realities of millions of mothers in America.
Aired: 07/23/21
Expires: 08/01/24
[ambient music] [marching band music] [crowd chattering] [marching band music] ♪ - Finished?
Two hours and 37 minutes later, 1600 calories - uh, [whistle] I don't know how many steps it was a lot.
[trumpet music] - [Man] Just minutes ago, when I was on a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence about the coronavirus, I learned that we have a presumptive positive case here in Louisiana.
- So some people know this, not everybody, but about seven days, I started to feel really sick.
And yesterday I found out that I tested positive for COVID-19.
It's so scary, just going to the bathroom.
[machine beep] 'Cause I can't breathe without oxygen.
[machine beep] [woman heavily breathing] [woman crying] Hi baby.
[piano music playing] - Mom!
Mom!
- Can you come over here.
- Okay.
[banging] - My husband works nine to five, so I'm full-time mom now.
- Yah!
♪ I'll wear this one, ♪ ♪ I get s ♪ - Okay that's fine.
[footsteps thumping] [woman sighs] - Alright guys.
I need to take this call.
[footsteps thumping] So can you try to keep it down?
Guys?
[children laughing] Hello?
[children laughing] [woman shushing] Sorry.
Stop, stop.
During the day, I'm with the kids doing virtual learning and keeping them busy and then sometimes I can get work done.
But generally my work day starts at 8:00 PM.
Goes til sometimes as late as 1:00 am, 2:00 am.
And I'm trying to figure out how I can be an artist.
- Mommy, can you help me open this?
- Yeah.
- Mommy, what're you doing?
[package crinkles] - I'm just trying to get some work done.
- Then why are you what kind of work?
[packaging crinkles] - I'm editing the film.
So you guys know mommy's making this movie right about different families and our friends and different mothers.
- Mm hm.
[relaxing music] [phone alert chimes] - [Ms. Paladine] Hello everyone - [Students] Good morning Ms. Paladine - [Ms. Paladine] Are you ready for a brand new day?
- [Students] Yeah!
♪ - [Ms. Paladine] Good morning.
♪ ♪ - [Students] Good morning.
♪ ♪ - [Ms. Paladine] Good morning.
♪ - I assist The head teacher specifically with the special needs children in the class.
- Could you give me a thumbs up If you would hear the good morning song before I turned it off?
Okay.
Just making sure.
♪ Good morning, good morning ♪ Elea, Elea please mute.
Kamala you done with your blue folder.
How many cars do you see Durham?
Look at the screen.
How many cars did- You try to get him to focus while he's eating breakfast?
♪ Good morning, come on everyone.
♪ I want to see you counting.
- [Ms. Paladine] Does Yarn start with a Y sound?
- I don't know how many times in my mind I have quit my job.
- Get that away from you, please.
- Put it down.
- [Ms. Paladine] For later.
- My livelihood is being a teacher.
That's what makes money for me right now because I'm a standup comedian.
COVID just really put a damper on that.
Comedy was that thing that kept my, my identity.
And when you're home and you're teaching and your hair combing and cooking your mama and your teacher, and there are no boundaries.
There's there's no separation.
I can be it all so some things fall by the wayside.
Grades have dropped or, you know I'm always tired or agitated.
Like the hardest thing about this COVID situation in parenting is that people don't understand.
Like it's not just like everyday parenting.
It's not the same.
I laugh when I'll see like think pieces, like how to be a good mom during COVID like, you don't know, shut up.
We are blindly shooting in the dark and just hoping that we shoot in the right things and not killing our kids at the same time.
Just nobody knows.
[piano music playing] - You only have a little while too and then I want you to come into your worksheets.
Okay?
- Awe man.
Worksheets?
- Get up at 5:30 in the morning and my day begins you know, and sometimes it doesn't end till nine o'clock 10 o'clock at night.
I'm a theater maker, theater producer, director and you know live performance is pretty much off the table, which it should be, you know.
Most recently lost someone that was really important to me and a part of the theater community here.
She died on December 10th from complications of COVID.
So what's this a picture of the beach?
- No.
- What?
- This is a picture of us staying in the house.
- [Mother] Oh staying in the house.
[soft piano music playing] The biggest challenge for me has been employment for sure, losing my job.
Losing 80% of my income for this year has been a challenge.
And I was the breadwinner I've interviewed for so many jobs and it's always like a missing just one little thing.
And although I have been blessed to have consultant work and teaching jobs, it is it's hard.
I mean I started it off 2020 with a whole financial plan.
We would like to purchase a home next year.
Hopefully that can still happen.
I don't know, but I can only work when my son sleeps.
I'm sleeping less, less because I'm working later and later not having a babysitter for, I counted, it's 279 days I believe now.
Maybe 280, 280 having even just a date night like that.
We try to do it but it's hard because we can't leave the house.
And I know baby, we can't leave the house and you want, you want some, you want tortilla?
Come on, look what I have here, look.
- Tell Daddy thank you.
- Thank you Daddy.
- Ava how you think the new year is going to be for you?
- I still think we're going to have the worst pandemic ever.
- To have a vaccine.
You know what Polio is?
- No.
- [Mother] Polio used to be a really bad disease.
They got a vaccine and nobody gets Polio anymore.
That's just like chicken pox.
You never had chicken pox.
[slow piano music playing] [chattering] [band playing] okay so tell me about your day.
- So first we did foundations and we did our letters, and then we did math we did four pages.
- Four pages?
That's a lot.
- Mom we got the most points.
- [Woman On Computer] What has COVID taught you about being a Mother?
- I mean, it almost killed me so it almost took away my ability to be a Mother.
Um Miles [speaking Spanish] - [Woman Off Screen] When Tiffany was posting videos about her experience with COVID.
I was scared for the life, the life of my friend.
If she could be sick and if it were possible for her to possibly pass away.
Then the same thing could be, could happen to me.
I think the biggest challenge for me throughout this entire COVID time.
Has just been managing my own emotional responses to the things that are going on around me that I'm emotionally and mentally strong enough to keep the space safe for them.
[train sounding] [keyboard clacking] [soft piano music playing] - All right where my parents at?
Let me hear some noise.
[people cheering lousily] That's what I expected to hear.
Cause I ain't, nobody can't be about being a parent right now.
Ain't nobody.
Nobody.
I have three girls.
I love them dearly.
COVID has allowed me to learn them in ways that I never thought I would or would want to.
- I am officially fully vaccinated.
It's four days before the anniversary of me having COVID March, 14th, 2020.
And the sense of relief that I have right now is a bit overwhelming because I don't have to ever worry about getting sick again.
[soft piano music playing] - [Woman Off Screen] We made it, we made it we made it through a year and we're all still here.
We lost many people, but we're still here.
[soft piano music] ♪ [piano and violin music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
