On sneakers … and closure
Our son and daughter are returning to their elementary school in a couple of weeks … but just for a few minutes.
We just received a long, multi-page plan of how each student (or parent) will be picking up their belongings and dropping off any school property. It’s been organized with military-level precision.
It made me burst into tears.
Each class has its own time slot — two teachers at a time, one set up in the cafeteria, with another set up in the gym. You must arrive during your class’s designated hour. Only three people and two staff members can be inside at any given point (social distancing, of course). Enter through this door, exit through that one.
Continue reading in my parenting column, The Mom Scene …
School’s not happening so now what?
Five and a half months.
That’s how long our kids will be out of school, assuming things re-start in September — and a September start is the one true, beautiful thing I refuse to stop believing in, so don’t burst my bubble.
I wasn’t surprised when they made the announcement that our kids wouldn’t be going back to school this year. (Although I would have gladly sent them if I’d had the option.) I had already told myself, weeks ago, to expect absolutely nothing in order to prevent further crushing disappointments.
Even so, once it was official — that there would be no return to school this term, and homeschooling would end June 5 — it was pretty depressing.
Continue reading in my parenting column, The Mom Scene …
Celebrating kids’ birthdays under quarantine
When our daughter started planning a huge slumber party to celebrate her eighth birthday, we never imagined it would have to be postponed indefinitely because no one could leave their homes or go to school — let alone squish into a single room together.
She cried at first, already devastated by how much she missed her teachers and friends. She cried again when she realized we also couldn’t have our usual 20-person family party with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.
I reassured her we’d have both parties when we could — bigger and better than ever — but in the meantime, we’d still make sure she had a special “quarantine birthday.”
And you know what? It turned out even better than I’d hoped.
If you have a child (or, heck, a grown-up) who will be celebrating their birthday during the restrictions, here are a few tips that helped us throw our daughter a truly memorable birthday …
Continue reading in my parenting column, The Mom Scene …
A neighbour called the police on my kids yesterday
It’s lunchtime as I type this. It was supposed to be rainy/snowy today, but the sun is shining. The kids did their schoolwork this morning, and they’re going to go outside to play as soon as they’re done eating.
It terrifies me.
Yesterday, a neighbour in our sweet small town called the police on my kids.
It was just another day in this shitty new pandemic life we’re all living. The kids did their schoolwork in the morning. They ate lunch, and then they went outside to play, as they do just about every afternoon now.
We live on a street with (mostly) very small, shared yards. Our backyard playground is mere feet away from our neighbour’s backyard playground because, as I said, these yards are SMALL AND SHARED.
When our kids are playing outside, the kids next-door are often playing outside, too. It’s the only kids they see, so sure, they talk and joke and attempt to “play” together — all from a distance.
Sometimes they play Charades — no need to be close for that — and last week or the week before (it’s all a blur), I showed them how to run an obstacle course and time each other. No problems there. One person at a time on the obstacle course, and everyone else cheered from a distance.
They’re kids, all between the ages of seven and nine. They’re not perfect, and sometimes they veer closer than six feet. One of them will remember and yell “Social distance!” and they back up, or we remind them from the windows.
The phone rang yesterday afternoon. It was our local police department, calling to tell me that a neighbour “who wished to remain anonymous” had reported that we had a “crowd of kids” running around together, even running in and out of each other’s houses.
I almost dropped the phone, I was so shocked.
Read MoreA day in the life of pandemic parenting
The other morning, I spent an hour on a video conference with people I’d never seen “in person” before. It was very successful, and I felt like an awesome businesswoman.
Then I hurried upstairs to check on the kids and discovered our son hadn’t heard his reminder alarm and, as a result, had missed most of his class Google Meet. I flipped my lid and felt like a terrible mother.
Yes, it’s an optional call, but I still felt awful. He’s missing out on so much right now, and knowing he’d missed out on one of the only things available to him filled me with anger, frustration and sadness.
I frantically pulled out my phone and started setting even more reminders, determined it won’t happen again even if I am on a work call. Now every day at 9:20 a.m., our house positively booms with voices coming out of every Alexa device.
It’s an overreaction, for sure, but these days I’m not sure I’m capable of reacting normally to anything.
Continue reading in my parenting column, The Mom Scene, and please continue to SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPERS during this difficult time! Unlimited digital access to the SaltWire Network is just $1 right now.
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