I believe this with every part of me!
We can put learning on hold. No, we SHOULD put learning on hold. Or at least pump the brakes. Our kids will survive, and they will be successful in life, BUT ONLY if we help them to navigate what they’re experiencing right now.
Five years from now are we going to look back and think we could’ve done more for our kids during this time? Between the schedules and the mandates for learning, I think we are going to regret it.
Let’s refocus and recenter. For years we’ve been complaining about the rigor and the complexities that exist within the school systems. Now is the time to swing the pendulum, not allow the pendulum to stay in its current spot only now within the confines of an online platform.
The world is upside down, and we cannot pretend otherwise.
Let’s shout it from the rooftops to let all the politicians and school board members know, THIS IS NOT OKAY. Our kids have been struggling for years with a system that contains too much testing and often developmentally inappropriate content. Our kids have been ignored by a system that pushes them further and further, ignoring their social and emotional needs.
Now our kids need us to be there for them more than ever, and our response is “Here, let’s move school (which can already be stressful) into an online platform (which is even more stressful) while literally the entire the world is upside down. And let’s pretend like everything is ‘normal’ while you attend school at home with 2 working parents. (No big deal.) One parent is working from home for a time, but has just been let go by his company, and the other parent works in the healthcare system and has to come home every night by first sanitizing themselves before walking into the house, and then try not to cry from their overwhelming day of sick and dying patients. Oh, and on top of that, I’m sorry to say that your grandfather has COVID-19, but, we can’t go see him.
“Hey! Don’t forget to do your Reading and Math, which are due tomorrow!”
THEY DON’T NEED SCHOOL RAMMED DOWN THEIR THROATS RIGHT NOW.
It’s time to let our kids know we care about their emotional state, not just their academic performance.
One needs to be in the right frame of mind to be effective. How effective is their learning if we are skimming over their mental state?
The message that we are sending is that the world is the same, only we are learning at home now.
The world is not the same.
The world may never be the same.
So let’s not treat them the same.
Our future children deserve to live in a world that they can look back on 10-20 years from now and think,
“Wow. I was taken care of during a world crisis. I may not have been able to see my friends, attend my senior prom, celebrate my birthday, or attend my graduation, but they asked me if I was okay.
“And that meant the world.”
Mommisadventures 