If you’re reading this blog post, there’s a good chance you’re a parent. Since you’re reading this in the year 2020, there’s a very good chance that you’re a very TIRED parent.
Tired of wondering if you’re making the right decisions regarding everything from masks, hand sanitizers, daycare, social gatherings, whether or not to send your kids back to school, and whether or not to buy ALL of Target’s toilet paper. Ok… don’t do that last one.
But do you know who I bet is even MORE tired than parents in 2020? Educators and governing educational leaders in 2020.
There are so many questions and opinions regarding the re-opening of schools, but the truth is, nobody ACTUALLY knows what the best and safest plan of action is for schools right now, because nobody ACTUALLY knows what this virus is capable of.
Our kids are our number one priority, and our most important job is keeping them safe. For some, there is absolutely no choice but to send their kids to school. Some families have two full-time working parents with no family around to help. Some single parents have one income and can’t afford to not go to work each day. Some parents just plain don’t want to home-school or distance-teach their children because they don’t feel equipped to do so.
What I do know, is that the hateful comments being strewn towards our governing leaders, our administrators, and our educators over the reopening of schools is making me even MORE tired than I already was in 2020, and it’s not helping anyone make any decisions.
Before I was a work from home mom, I was a teacher. I can tell you first hand how devastating all of this is for the teachers and administrators. They want schools to open up in August and welcome your sweet children with open arms, hugs, silly songs, dances, intensely thought out lesson plans, crafty art projects, hands-on science experiments, you name it. They want to go home exhausted at the end of the day covered in your kids’ snot and paint and grade papers and get up every morning to do it all over again.
What they don’t want is for parents berating them for their decisions surrounding how and when they will open schools. I assure you that every administrator in every district is doing the absolute best they can right now with the information they have.
They have the safety of your children, the teachers, and the school staff members at the forefront of every HARD decision they are having to make right now. They have been working behind the scenes since March trying to figure out distance learning/teaching, reformatting lesson plans, learning how to orchestrate a zoom call full of 4-year-olds, driving by their students’ houses for birthday parades, ordering allllll the hand sanitizer and allllll of the thermometers and they’re doing all of this because they love your kids.
They are potentially putting themselves on the frontlines of this virus by going back to school and risking their health, all in the name of your child’s education.
So, please. For the love of what is left of this already insanely difficult year 2020, can we please show a little more compassion and respect for our leaders in education? They are doing their very best (whether you agree with their stances or not) to ensure the safest transition into this school year, and they could use a little more support from the people they are doing this all for – the parents and our children.
I assure you they are just as tired as you are from having their decisions questioned every minute of the day. Except in their case, their decisions don’t just affect your children, but ALL of the children, teachers, custodians, school nurses, principals, coaches, and faculty members returning to their jobs in the fall.
Now…Let’s all take a nap.
