Families across American and across the world experienced a dramatic change a couple weeks ago. In the Chicagoland area, it started with people washing their hands more, and rumors of a school closings. This is a big deal.
I never completely understood why the closing of a school for a snow day was that big of deal…until I had children. If you have no kids and are a teacher, when you have a snow day, you stay home from school. It’s pretty much a day off. When you have children, this means that your children are also home from school, which is generally not that big of a deal because you as a teacher have the day off too.
What has happened now is completely different and the most unique personal and professional situation I have experienced. My children are not in school, and I’m not in school, however my children need to be taught remotely, as I figure out how to teach my students remotely. Let’s add in that playdates are out, museum are closed, and playgrounds are off limits. This means many parks are pretty much out the question because who wants to bring a kid to a park and tell them they can’t go on the slide.
Every assumption that has been made about our lifestyle with our children, has been completely upended. Yes, it’s wonderful to have more time with our children. However, this time was thrust upon us in a way that was so sudden that for many parents there left little time to make any adjustments for the new normal. It just happened: kids are at home, and we have to figure out to make it work.
Children being at home from school is not a simple proposition. Many children get essential mental health service and physical therapy at schools. For some children the safest place to be is not in their homes, and for most children, school provides essential time for students to socialize, develop different facets of their identity, and become independent learners. Video chats over the internet are nice, but they don’t come close to replacing what school provides.
For at least another month, this is where we are at. We are trying to be for our children, what we cannot. At the same time, we are trying to re-conceptualize how the priorities we hold as parents, while unchanged, require different actions out of us.
Every parent is finding this time challenging, albeit for different reasons. And some parents are going through significant trauma right now. While advice is not hard to find, and statements of support are out there, the structures and systems are struggling to help us. The best teachers are struggling right now, and many work places have failed to make changes to figure out how to allow parents to work their job at home while caring for their own children.
This is not what we signed up for. No one told us that a feature of being a parent was keeping your children at home during a pandemic. Like many challenges I’ve faced in the past week that have left me without direction, I don’t how to end this post.
I’ll say this: I love my children. While they are one of the reasons that this crisis is so difficult right now, they are also the reason why I am doing everything I can to help. They are the reason I still have hope, and in their laughter, I am inspired. Joy in these hard times is powerful, and my children’s spirit and light keeps me going, and keeps me smiling.
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