It’s been about two weeks since the last official day of school. But, the last time that Addie stepped foot in her kindergarten classroom was almost four months ago. Who would have guessed that the beginning of spring break would usher in months of “distance learning.” We still don’t know for certain what “school” will look like in September. What we do know is that we need to figure out how we’re going to manage this pandemic parenting thing for the next couple months.
This — believe it or not — is now “summer vacation.” Normally, leading up to these couple months, we would’ve been looking for various activities (and maybe even summer camps of some sort). But, we didn’t. There’s definitely less pressure to sign up for these sorts of things, especially since many of them aren’t happening at all. As cliche as it has become to say, these are indeed uncertain times. And we’ve just got to figure it out as we go along.
Silver Linings and Making It Work
Our family has been very fortunate in many ways. In terms of coping with the pandemic, we’re fine. I’ve been working from home for years, my wife is an essential worker at the hospital, and my mom helps out a lot with childcare. To this end, pandemic parenting this summer will really just be an extension of what we’ve already been doing.
Addie is still expressing (some) enthusiasm about the math and spelling workbooks she got her (above). And yes, those are poker chips. She uses them as “counters” for her math “homework.” Since she doesn’t really recognize that this is “summer vacation,” Addie’s been keeping up with the same routine. She does a couple pages of exercises each day.
C’mon Daddy, Let’s Go Play
One big difference compared to these past few months, though, is that the neighborhood playgrounds are now open. Don’t mind the sleepy picture in the middle. She’s just being a goofball (like her father).
With the weather (generally) getting better and the playgrounds open, we’ve been spending a little more time outdoors. She’s been riding her trike and scooter to the park. It’s back to the pre-corona routine when we’d visit one of the neighborhood playgrounds on a fairly regular basis. The difference is that we need to show up with hand sanitizer, and we need to be mindful about social distancing. Kids are kids, of course, so we do the best we can.
A lot of what we might choose to do is still contingent on whether it’s still happening. And if it’s still happening this summer, will they have appropriate measures in place where everyone can feel reasonably safe. I’ll have to revisit some of the free kids activities I vlogged about last summer. Like, we’d probably still be able to visit Belcarra Regional Park, but they’re probably not hosting educational events this year.
Here We Are Now, Entertain Us
Some parents will proudly exclaim that they are not here to entertain their children. They’ll say that the children should learn to entertain themselves. Maybe, but that can be really hard for an only child. (We’ve got another one on the way in September, so that’ll change the dynamic entirely, I’m sure.)
The truth is that especially during this time of pandemic parenting, kids are going to complain about being bored. And if you want to retain some semblance of sanity yourself, you’ll need to address or redirect that boredom. That might mean you’ll need to whip out the old playbook. Some rainy day activities can quickly become regular activities. Maybe you can bake some cookies together. As an added reward, you then get to eat some cookies together.
What’s been working for us, which might not be the most environmentally-conscious choice, is her love of arts and crafts. She does a lot of drawing and coloring, so she goes through a lot of paper. That’s both of the plain and construction varieties. I haven’t dabbled in origami again for a while now, so we may choose to revisit that at some point too. It also helps that the local library, while still technically closed, is allowing for “paper bag pickup” of items you put on hold.
No More Than One Hour of Screen Time
Before we became parents, we swore we would never do this or that. And then all the other parents laughed and laughed and laughed. It’s really much the same with some many people experiencing what it’s like to work from home for the first time. Or to take care of their kids 24 hours a day. Reality has this uncanny ability to kick you off your high horse.
A joke that emerged during these past few months is that parents are now limiting their children to “no more than one hour of screen time per hour.” We’ve all let a few rules slide and, in the grand scheme of things, I think that’s okay. Try your best to rein it in, but don’t beat yourself up too much when you don’t.
For our part, the screen time challenge has reached new levels of difficulty. She knows how to grab the Nintendo Switch and start up her favorite games on her own. In fact, she even told me to go take a nap… so she could put on her headphones and play Mario Kart. Similarly, Addie has become very skilled at turning on the TV, launching the Netflix or Disney+ app, and finding her favorite programming.
It’s both a proud dad moment — she’s figuring out things on her own and is getting really good at video games in general — and a frustrating one. We can’t “control” her screen time quite so easily anymore without blocking her physical access to devices.
Pandemic Parenting and the New Normal
I don’t need to tell you, but I’m going to tell you anyway. No one else knows what they’re doing with this pandemic parenting business either. We’re all just figuring it out as we go along and we all know that this summer isn’t going to look like previous summers. Again, as cliche as it sounds, we’ll all just need to adapt to this new normal, whatever that means.
For our part, this will be our last summer with Addie as an only child. Her sibling is due to arrive in September, and their arrival will surely turn our world upside down. It also means that this summer will include a lot of preparation and planning. Talk about adapting to a “new normal,” right?
All things considered, we’re very lucky here in British Columbia. Case numbers are relatively low. And, a lot of things are opening up (if they haven’t already), even if they don’t quite look the same as before. I know the situation is different elsewhere, so we all just have to remain vigilant. As Dr. Bonnie Henry has told us so many times before, this is not forever, but it is our “for now.”
So, as we head into a summer of pandemic parenting, let’s remember to be kind, be calm and be safe.
Best of luck Michael with ‘Summer 2020′ parenting and with the arrival of Child No2. This summer is going to be long. I mean ya’ know, the past three months were just the start! The fascinating thing though is that this has never happened before, ever. No generation of parents has had to deal with closed schools, closed parks, closed museums, closed cafes, closed childcare. Things are now only opening up again in a socially distanced way. It’s, ahem, interesting!
Sure, let’s go with “interesting.” A great challenge we’ve had these past few months with the closed schools is that many of the options we had for keeping her entertained and engaged were also closed. No malls. No playgrounds. That sort of thing. Our playgrounds are now open though, and the weather is getting better, so this will certainly help.