We’ve definitely encountered our fair share of parenting problems that we didn’t expect, and didn’t have answers for. Currently we’re ignoring two splinters in E’s palm, mostly because we don’t know what to do about them. They aren’t really bothering him, and despite trying, we can’t get them out. He definitely doesn’t want us to try again. We’ve tried a few ideas we’ve found online, but none of them worked. So right now we’re ignoring it. Hoping they’ll either come out on our own, or become an obvious enough problem we’ll need to get professional help.
See? Parents of the year.
This whole pandemic thing has added a bunch of challenges we definitely didn’t feel prepared to handle. When I thought I’d have to keep my kid safe, I assumed it would mean things like picking out car seats, keeping them from throwing themselves down the stairs, and making sure they were up to date on their vaccines.
Instead we’re juggling a global pandemic.
A global pandemic which has forced parents everywhere to make decisions they don’t feel great about. I’m not saying this to complain. It’s the world we live in now, and every parent of young kids is in the same boat. Everyone is trying to figure out what’s safe, what’s reasonable, what’s right for their family. I’m not sure there are right answers here, which is what makes it so hard. All we can do is make the best choice we can, each day.
For many months, that decision has meant staying at home. We’ve traded off between work and taking care of two very young children. It’s been fun and tiring and overwhelming and chaotic and exhausting. And so when daycare opened recently, we thought about it.
At first, we quickly brushed it off. It didn’t feel very safe.
And then we talked to our pediatrician, and read some medical studies and felt slightly better about it. That combined with the thought that we’re in a current low spot with the virus before the next inevitable spike, made us think we should take advantage of it and get a bit of rest.
Take advantage of it, and let the kids get some socialization. They’ve been begging for friends to play with, and things to learn. They’ve been enjoying the time at home with us, but they are desperately missing the routine of daycare as well.
So we’re going back. For a trial period.
We’ll see how everyone does. I am certain we’ll either pull them out when cases spike again or when the state is forced to shut down this fall. But until then, maybe I’ll take a nap here or there. Maybe we’ll pick up some rooms that have gotten extremely cluttered, or just catch up on some work that we’ve ignored and try to keep our career on track.
A funny thing happened, though, as soon as we sent them back.
I miss them.
So much.
I really thought I’d be relieved to get back to “normal” as much as possible. I thought I’d get some relief going back to our routines. Having some downtime would feel nice. And it does - I just also miss having them around me.
This whole home quarantine thing, as scary as it is, has really given us a gift. 132 days in a row of togetherness. At a time when they grow and change so much, so quickly, it’s been amazing to always be there.
They haven’t been back long, but already they’ve adjusted beautifully. Their teachers say it’s like they’ve never left, and they tell me they have fun every day when I pick them up. It’s certainly weird getting used to the new protocols, not being able to go into their classrooms or talk to their teachers in person, but we’re figuring it out.
A few months from now I’ll be able to tell you if this was a good decision or not. Either we’ll be well rested and ready to tackle the next part of this pandemic and will all be in a better place mentally, or we’ll have caught Covid from daycare, and this will all have been a big mistake.
Only time will tell.
