In parenting, now is the time for grace

Probably like a lot of parents, I spent a good few days driving myself completely bonkers trying to figure out how this whole home-school-with-two-working-parents thing was going to work.

I made schedules and spreadsheets! I transformed our dining room into two virtual school houses! I was ORGANIZED!

This is all fine and good, of course, if you’re one of those parents who don’t get overwhelmed easily (LOL) and are maybe Mary Poppins.

Spoiler alert: I am neither of those things. After a restless, anxiety-ridden night leading into day 4 of “home school,” I had a lightning bolt of a thought at 5 a.m.: I will not survive this unless we back off a bit. My older son is in 1st grade. He has maybe 1 hour of work that needs to be done, the rest is playing with LEGOs and writing books and playing over-the-door basketball in his room. And he’s FINE. My younger son is in preschool. He basically talks to himself all day as he reenacts scenes from “The Lion Guard” and “Wild Kratts.” He, too, is FINE.

I realized I needed to grant myself a little grace. This is going to be hard for everyone. Our world has turned upside down in a matter of days. I will not get through it unless I take each day as it comes and try to learn to embrace the extensive time at home, which I haven’t had since my last maternity leave.

As we start week 2 of this bizarro social experiment, perhaps you need to hear it, too. If that’s the case, maybe you’ll find some solace in this piece I wrote late last week.

Until next time, be well, friends.

Read it here

Spot on

TIME FTW

TIME for Kids launched a free digital library to allow kids access to the 2020 editions of TIME for Kids and Your $. This issue is, of course, all about the coronavirus, available in grade-specific editions. Plus, they opened up TimeforKids.com for teachers to access free worksheets and classroom info.

Read TIME for Kids for free here

For when your kid your anxiety is keeping you up...

I don’t know any parent who has time to read right now, but in case you have a free 30 minutes or even an hour (LOL), here’s a collection of comfort TV shows from the fine people of HuffPost. From “The Golden Girls” to “30 Rock,” one of these should allow you to escape reality for a bit.