A GLASGOW mum has revealed the highs and lows of pandemic parenting in a book detailing her life with a toddler during coronavirus.

Dr Laura Bissell, like parents up and down the country, had her world turned upside down when the UK Government first announced the national lockdown in March 2020.

Having spent the last few months learning how to juggle work and her then one-year-old daughter, Laura and her husband were now faced with caring for their little one while managing full-time jobs with absolutely no family support.

Despite Laura’s family being “incredibly lucky” throughout the pandemic, the challenges of parenting in the middle of a global shutdown – including the highs, the lows and the downright hilarious – will ring true for many families and are all featured in the new book Bubbles: Reflections on Becoming a Mother.

READ MORE: Glasgow's QEUH staff thanked after shortage concerns

Laura said: “I had started writing through my pregnancy, just sort of journalling to chronicle the strange things going on.

“Then, when the pandemic began, it just felt like there were always these seismic shifts happening all the time and I started to document our lives as we were back to that bubble of three again.

“I don’t want to undermine the challenges of the pandemic. We were very privileged – both our jobs were secure, we weren’t furloughed, we didn’t have a family bereavement – but we were juggling full-time work, or more than full-time work, and we were juggling childcare.”

She added: “It was a challenge but I also look back on it as a gift – getting to learn everything about my daughter again and seeing moments you miss when they’re in full-time childcare.”

The book details the mammoth changes in Laura’s life from the moment she first received her positive pregnancy test in 2018, right up to her family’s own battle with Covid-19 in late 2020 following an outbreak at her daughter’s nursery – which, thankfully, resulted in relatively mild symptoms for Laura and her husband, with the little one seeming to skip the worst of it.

The mum-of-one insists her book is not a “how-to” guide but it’s hoped it will resonate with her families who struggled to juggle family life during the intense global climate over the last two years.

As rumours swirl of further restrictions in the wake of the new Omicron variant, Laura’s advice to her 2020 self may help new families fearing the possibility of parenting in lockdown. She said: “Hopefully, it offers some connection despite the isolation ... motherhood can be isolating anyway and it seems to have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

READ MORE: Backlog of repairs to Glasgow’s roads would cost almost £100million to complete

"I think my advice to myself would be trying to accept that not everything could be done to the same standard as it was before.”

Laura will launch the book tomorrow at Outwith Books on Albert Road from 6.30pm, with guests invited to attend an after-event at Bungo.

For tickets, visit here.

To order visit here. https://www.luath.co.uk/productsb/bubbles