When It Comes To School This Fall, Parents Are Damned Either Way

Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.

That’s how I feel as a parent navigating my child’s educational journey while a global health pandemic wreaks unfathomable havoc on our nation and its people.

The people I care about most?

THE KIDS.

The kids who had no choice but to stealthily adapt when the end of their last school year went spring break, okay, we’re going to extend your break, okay, you still can’t come back, okay, and now we are e-learning FOR. THE. REST. OF. THE YEAR.

In a zoom, they were on Zoom, and for most, it went all right. But, for some, it wasn’t good. They weren’t motivated, engaged or willing.

TO NO FAULT OF THE TEACHERS OR THEIR PARENTS.

And, now, most of us are going out of our minds trying to decide what to do in the fall, if we have a choice, which it sounds like many of us (thankfully) will.

Do I send my child to their brick and mortar campus, risk exposing them to coronavirus, and worry about their physical health

every.

single.

day?

Or do I keep them home with me, risk exposing them to

a challenging e-learning environment,

extreme boredom,

and social and emotional distress caused by a lack of interaction with like-aged humans?

Do I send my child to their brick and mortar campus knowing full well that while capable of 8-hour mask-wearing, he/she is going to tire of it eventually and let the straps down?

Or do I keep them home with me, knowing full well that they will (literally) breathe easy, maskless, in the safety of our home, but only amongst the parents and siblings they are beginning to tire of?

Do I send my child to their brick and mortar campus so that they can get to work?

Do I send my child to their brick and mortar campus so that I am not distracted from mine?

Or, do I keep them home with me because THAT is what is going to work when it comes to keeping my child and others safe from the virus’ harm?

Do I send my child back to school because they want to go, and I want them to go?

Or, DO I KEEP THEM HOME WITH ME BECAUSE I WANT THEM TO LIVE?

And their friends and teachers too, of course.

If that sounds dramatic, it just might be.

Or perhaps it’s not.

And that’s the dang conundrum that’s got us parents so perplexed about the true “right” thing to do, both for our children and family, but also our

county,

state,

and society as a whole.

I don’t know what my decision is yet, and I suspect more will change in the few weeks I have left before I must make one.

There is one thing I’m certain of though, that no matter what any of us chooses, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

And, since that’s the case, we’ve just got to

trust our gut,

in each other,

and pray to the high heavens that, for the sake of parents everywhere, whoever has America’s Voodoo doll gets just as tired of poking it as we are having to living in the fatiguing age of corona.