This school year looks a little different than usual. Welcome back, students! Or should I say, parents? Due to COVID-19, most of our students now wake up, eat cereal, brush their teeth, and get ready to start virtual learning from their home.
While I understand new safety measures are taken to protect our children, who is tired of them already? In all honesty, though, how are you handling virtual learning? Are you still alive? How do you have the energy for all your kids, managing everyone’s iPad, keeping up with assignments, meetings, chores, and work? Although I’m grateful to be around my children, it can honestly be hectic. I work from home, and I have two kids in school (elementary and middle school), I am finishing up my Master’s degree, and still have to cook and clean.
So….here are my thoughts on this subject. I HATE IT. I’m not too fond of the fact that I have to sit there for 10 minutes to log in to their school meetings. Anyone else feels my pain on this one? All kids want to do is sit there and type away on the “group chat and send emojis.”
It’s quite impossible to keep an eye on them 24/7. It’s even harder to keep up with assignments and turn them in when the system or app continuously keeps kicking you out. I know this is just as hard for teachers, so kudos to them. But once again, I do not have the patience to teach. Some of these worksheets have me like, super confused.
If you have kids like mine, then you’re running all over the house 24/7. I feel like I’m a teacher on top of what I have to do at home or work. I know there are thousands out there in the same boat as me, and believe me, you are not alone.
It’s not easy for anyone. Teachers keep saying it will get more comfortable, but it doesn’t. Again, yes, they try hard as well, and I’m thankful for them, but who keeps us sane? I am not even ashamed to drive to my nearest gas station for mommy drinks anymore. Next time Carlos gives me that dirty look again; I will give him that “look.” That look, your mother used to give you when you were younger before whooping your ass. Carlos, if you’re reading this, now you know why I drink.
So next time someone judges you for having a dirty house, a full sink with dirty dishes, or the fact that you haven’t showered in days. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Your kids know you are trying hard to teach them what they are taught on the other side of that screen, they understand how overwhelmed you can get, and they know mommy still loves them.
Next time you see a friend struggling with virtual classes, lift her. Offer her a coffee, buy her a 6-pack, drop some wine and chocolate, or maybe some bath bombs to relax her. Because chances are, she’s going through a lot, and nobody knows it.
