All in a day’s work: Managing Covid-19 patients and baking cookies

There are certain activities in our lives that leaves us with good memories. Eating a good food is certainly one of them. What is the best food that you ever ate? My mother makes the best pancakes in the whole world!! Her pancakes are so good that you do not have to add any syrup! My wife makes the best Bofrot in the whole world!!! Bofrot is the Ghanaian version of Munchkins Donut Hole Treats from Dunkin’ Donuts.

For most of us, life is not scripted because it can be filled with surprises. For me, that surprise occurred one day when my daughter transformed one routine day into a special day. As a physician, I was post call and had arrived home from the hospital. I was physically drained after taken care of my patients, a few of them with Covid-19. My daughter’s school was cancelled due to a wintry mix of snow and sleet and my children were off for that day. After arriving from work, I performed my newly crafted routine of removing my shoes in the back of my car, washing my hands thoroughly, rushing to the bathroom to take a shower to get rid of any possible germs or viruses, then lastly, coming downstairs to meet my family. Like all healthcare workers, I have been doing my best to prevent bringing any disease from work to my family.

For this particular day, my daughter insisted on me baking her a cookie!!! I was blind sided by this request because I had never baked a cookie before in my entire life. I promised her we would bake her a cookie after I had eaten breakfast.

We got the cookies mix, preheated the oven and kneaded the dough and to my surprise, with my wife’s help, I baked my first cookie for my daughter!! The process of dough kneading was actually therapeutic to my mind and was a great stress reliever. While the chocolate chip cookies were baking in the oven, my daughter was patiently sitting three feet from the oven, and took a deep breath and smelled the aroma and inhaled the fresh scent of the cookies. I stood adjacent to her and saw one of the happiest smiles on her face. My wife decided to bake us banana bread also that day. Although it was cold outside, the inside of our house was warm with the enticing smell mixed of baking chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.

Will you believe it that after my wife’s banana bread was finished baking, the aroma transported my mind to a time period about 35 years ago when I was a child at the age of 5 or 6 years old, when my mother and her friend were baking us banana bread!!! When the cookies and banana bread were baked, my daughter, son, wife and I had the cookies and banana bread for dessert that day. They were sweet and delicious!!

In good faith, this story is shared to simply illustrate the importance of creating beautiful memories with our children, especially in such times as these. Likewise, these golden periods between the age of one to eighteen years, are the best times for us as parents to teach our children the importance of virtue, honesty, hard work, efficiency, developing great self esteem, sharing, loving others, becoming law abiding citizens, showing respect for our elderly population and providing age appropriate discipline to our children. The scripture states in Proverbs 22:6 : “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It is an honest fact that one day these children also will grow up and start families of their own. In conclusion, let us always remember that the mutual time spent with our children will always create positive memories that will last them a lifetime!!!

By Kofi Amo-Mensah, Medical Doctor.