With so much about school reopenings around the nation still unknown, one thing seems certain: If schools do reopen for in-person learning, many of those same schools will require children to wear masks. Even if your child has become accustomed to wearing a mask to enter a store or play on the playground, chances are even the most compliant best mask-wearers have yet to wear one for seven hours a day, as they may be expected to in school.
For work-from-home parents, one of the most challenging things to do is figuring out ways to keep the kids quiet during business calls, conference calls, and virtual meetings. No one said working from home would be a walk in the park, but it can sure be enjoyable even for the kids, especially when parents designate activities that allow them some quiet time and personal exploration.
After spending months keeping her 6-year-old daughter occupied with nature hikes, scavenger hunts and virtual playdates, Julia Devetski was hoping she could finally return to work full time again once the energetic rising first grader was back in the classroom this fall at her school in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. But as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage — and after learning that her daughter and her Chicago Public Schools classmates will be doing remote learning at home at least part of the time when the new school year starts in September — Devetski joined the soaring ranks of parents who are counting on “pandemic pods” or “micro-schools” as a solution to their dilemma.
What I’ve come to realize with clarity in these dark, anxious times is that so many of our problems “with technology” don’t emanate from the screens that our children are glued to but from the disruption and alienation that creeps into our own relationships with ourselves and others as we allow our experiences and tough emotions to be mediated, numbed out, blurred, by media. The phone is like a fentanyl lollipop; yes, it’s possible to abuse, but our pain, and the massive pain of the world driving us to it, is arguably the real problem.
Whether you leave the house or just need a caregiver to keep your children safe while you’re working from home in another room, you’ll need to know how to keep your kids and your babysitter safe during COVID-19.
Being a grandparent is one of the greatest joys of life, but even the best nanas and pop-pops may find themselves struggling with how to handle the questions, anxiety and other emotions coming from their grandchildren as they take in the world right now. As elementary school children express anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic, feel the associated boredom and also absorb what they can of the complex discussions of institutional racism, law enforcement policy and white privilege, there are bound to be a lot of questions.
When this is over, we’ll go to your favorite playground, my baby. We’ll stay until the sun sets and I’ll push you on your favorite swing. Or I’ll teach you how to pump your legs like you were learning before this pandemic started and I’ll watch as your face lights up with joy and excitement as you swing yourself through the air. Delighted at how high you’re flying.
It’s still summer, yes. But now is prime time to slowly start to plan for what may be the most important back-to-school season your kid will ever face. While you may not know what the exact situation will be in terms of schools reopening in your state, you can rest assured there will be some level of distance learning in play.
Plans for “reopening the economy” are plowing ahead even as new cases of the coronavirus — and our national death toll — continue their steady climb upwards. More bars, restaurants, bookstores, hair salons and all kinds of undeniably non-essential businesses are opening each day. But the discussion of if and how to open in-person schools this fall remains one of the most fraught.
We will never reduce the risk of infection to zero. But there are steps we can take to minimize risks. If families are willing to follow them, it should be reasonably safe for babies and grandparents to meet each other.