I think we need a collective moment of acknowledgement. We did it. We put our children back in school and it feels good. Really good. I couldn’t be more happy to be alone in my home with the quiet and space to work. I don’t think I’ve had a moment to stop and think about the fact that we put our children in school during a global pandemic. It’s hard to dissect the decision-making process for a couple of reasons. Number one: we just put our kids in school because that’s what we do. Number two: I have decision-making fatigue and can’t analyze all the variables that went into this decision. And number three: what’s the alternative?
But I want to take a moment to process what is happening. Our kids are wearing masks to school, getting testing for COVID-19 at school, social distancing during lunch and we are all holding their breath literally and figuratively. I find this to be missing from the conversations I’m having. I don’t mean that we don’t talk about it but we don’t acknowledge it for ourselves. We don’t give ourselves the pat on the back or the moment to think that we are working against great odds to safely educate our children and to put just a little bit of “normal” in their lives. As parents we often acknowledge and validate the struggles of our children and engage in discussions about “mask breaks” or fear of getting tested but if we just stop for a moment and think about how scary this is for us, it’s… I don’t know what will happen but so far in this moment of acknowledgement, I am okay. Here’s to all the parents out there making it work every day. And some days it just doesn’t work. And that’s okay too.