I don’t know about you, but the strain of COVID-19 on our family unit is REAL.
My spouse and I had to have a long conversation about whether we should keep our 4-year-old home from Pre-K this year. The convo was filled with tears, critical thinking, and rebuttals on both ends of the argument as we weighed our child’s heath, our family’s health, and financial stability.
My spouse and I have been working from home, but my job consists of nearly 7-8 private meetings a day where I can’t have interruptions. We are all on the struggle bus when figuring out what works best for our family. For many families, there really is no good or bad decision, just the best decision we can make for our family.
Things we considered…
- Child’s temperament at home with little structure
- Child’s lack of socialization with kiddos his age
- Child’s ability to learn social norms
- Challenges with work
- How my child would manage conflict away from parents
- Do we have a village that can support us if we keep him home?
- Do we feel confident in schooling from home?
- What if, God forbid he gets sick – would we carry guilt?
- Do we believe that the measures the school is taking the greatest precaution and can it actually be carried out with small kids?
- Is there an online option?
- Is it likely that school will close and go completely virtual?
As you can see, this list is not exhaustive, but are several of the points we felt important to consider when making the best decision for our family. When we decided which route to go, I still cried…I cried hard because no options felt fair or right because of the confines that society has placed us in. We have to work, we have to learn, and we have to stay healthy.
I can only imagine how our educators feel. I pray for them daily and support them in any way that I can. Lots of cleaning supplies/gift cards/appreciation.
I implore you: whether you’ve made the decision to send your kids back to school, are doing online or hybrid schooling, or are fully homeschooling your precious kiddos, consider supporting your local school with supplies and tangible acts of appreciation. We all need one another to make it through this.
May you feel peace with whatever decision you make for you and your family.
