Today we finally jump off the cliff we’ve been been standing at the edge of for so long. Today we take the plunge.
I’ve been standing on this cliff for… well it feels like an eternity, wondering what the water will be like, if riptides will carry us away, if dangers lurk down in the deep, if we’ll hit the water wrong and seriously injure ourselves.
But today we jump, or the kids do. I’m trying to focus on their normal, understandable anxieties, and not harp too much on the importance of wearing their masks correctly. They both have other concerns, like what their new teachers will be like, if they can find all their classes, and how fun will aftercare be; I don’t want to add, “possibly getting Covid” to that mix. At least not in their heads, though it will always be floating around in mine.
I feel like there are so many headlines about how many kids are getting Covid at schools where masks are not mandated, but I haven’t read anything about whether masks are keeping transmission of the Delta variant down in schools that do require masks. I know we have lots of data about how safe schools were last year, but if Delta is a whole mew hyper-transmissible ball game then I don’t understand how that data applies. I am taking comfort in the lack of headlines about outbreaks in local camps this summer. Maybe masks will provide the protection we need to keep schools open.
That’s all I want – for it to be safe enough to keep schools open.
Sending good thoughts to anyone starting school today or soon.
My kiddos started on 8/4 (1st grade, masks required) and 8/9 (pre-k, masks not required).
Yesterday the pre-k teacher posted pictures from the week – in a class of ~22, my son and one other kid were the only ones in masks. I am so… tired, frustrated, mad. This morning my 1st grader’s teacher sent a ClassDojo message that popped a preview on my phone of “Parents, we just found out our para pro” and my heart stopped. Luckily the rest of the message was that she has a birthday tomorrow and not that she’s tested positive but I’m not so dillusional as to think we’re not going to have a scare from one of the two classrooms soon. And, sure, the statistics are in my kiddos’ favor that if they get COVID they will have mild cases but when you’ve been on the wrong side of statistics before (i.e., lost four pregnancies, etc.) you KNOW someone is going to fall on the wrong side of this and you just pray it’s not one of your kids.
We have a little longer to go and my anxiety is ramping up. We have mask requirements which helps but I’m hearing weird things about lunch- like every one in the cafeteria with no distancing- which seems crazy to me. I hope common sense will prevail.
I am trying to just savor each moment with my kids to the utmost. I don’t think they are in grave danger but I am trying to think of this anxiety as a reminder of how incredibly much I love them and how good so many moments are (not all!)
Today feels heavy with the news about Afghanistan and I just wish I had the power to do more.
Ps – good luck and let us know how it goes!
Hoping everyone’s first day of school went well and everyone present was and is healthy.
I’m weirdly unconcerned about the start of in-person school. I kept the kids home all last year even though school was in person and I was happy and surprised by how well it went.
This year, there’s no in-person option and I’ve kind of resigned myself to the idea that they’ll get Covid sooner or later.
A lot of parents around me are freaking out because there was a huge (approximately 30-kid) Covid outbreak at a city-run summer camp in my town. The camp was outdoors and the kids were masked, but the Delta variant is so much more contagious.
*No REMOTE option
Is there an article about this summer camp out break? If that many kids are getting it outside and masked then schools don’t stand a chance. Sigh.
I learned about it from a neighborhood listserv, but there’s an article (paywalled) in one of the major newspapers in Massachusetts (Boston Globe, I think). I haven’t read the article, but people familiar with the situation have said it doesn’t get all the details exactly right.
I meant: this year there’s no REMOTE option.