"It's a Beautiful Life"- Genevieve Galvan Frenes

Day 15 – Two weeks. It’s been two weeks since this virus has altered our lives.

My son, a freshmen, has resorted to staying up late, like really late into the morning. I imagine every teenager at his age is going through the same thing. The freedom to do whatever at home, because time lingers like a ticking timer on a mantle. It’s ticking away, waiting to see what happens to the inhabitants in the home.

I’ve seen videos about parents losing their cool or teenagers having meltdowns in their living rooms. Some of the parent videos are about the frustrations of teaching their own kids, and others are just about everyday life and how the structure of the day has become, well, unstructured in the sense that there really isn’t a pattern for what to do. And with everyone at home at the same time, it can be overwhelming.

I’m lucky since my children are fairly mellow. Once in awhile, I’ll hear voices raise in the distance, but after a few minutes, I hear the laughter, and whatever was the issue, is forgotten. However, it’s only been two weeks. Things could change.

For parents with elementary kids, I understand the fear of a loss of months of school work. Their young minds are like sponges ready to soak up everything a teacher provides in a lesson. However, when the thoughts of the media and how kids are processing what’s actually happening in the world, does it really matter that kids have so much work to catch up at a time like this? Yes, it’s important to have young children learn, but they also need to play, release energy, stay close to those who comfort them, and have downtime to just “chill.” I know it seems like too much chilling can be detrimental, but I imagine for young children all of this commotion is a bit much.

For middle grade or high school kids, it’s different. It’s not so much that they are missing out on their upper grade curriculum, but they’re missing out on the social aspect of their lives. Yes, they are fortunate to have Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, and other forms of entertainment. However, it’s still not the same for them. They miss their friends and the laughter surrounding these friendships.

I hear one of my kids say, “I don’t want to die right now,” and although it catches me off guard, I realize that what he or she is hearing on the news, in posts, and from us, their parents, may be causing anxiety which we sometimes interpret as laziness.

In seeing my kids in this state of nervousness, I haven’t pushed the education like I normally would or bothered them to clean their rooms or dishes. They still help out, but on days when they seem unfocused, I give them time to just relax with their siblings, hang outside in our backyard, walk the dogs, or just watch movies together.

I’m a calm person; however, with all of these informative videos and posts about how to sanitize and disinfect my home, I feel the pressure to do everything to keep this virus from my family. And I’m realizing now, that my kids are seeing me in a way they are not used to, which is, not exactly fearful, but cautious in the way I handle my chores… like disinfecting items or even the way I take the takeout food from the wrappers and containers. They’ve never seen me so cautious about something so invisible. And I’m certain, this must scare them a bit.

So, as I perceive we’re all in for the long haul, it will be a test that all of us must pass. It’s about being vigilant in how we act with our children or what we show them each day. It’s about not sweating the small things (I know this is easier to say than do) and even insisting that they learn something not related necessarily to traditional education, but other needed essentials like cooking or creating something new, such as a hobby (sewing, drawing, gardening). Maybe something new will be a good distraction and a new interest for them.

I promise myself that I’ll introduce my children to a few things like sewing or cooking/baking during these upcoming weeks. As the numbers of positive cases continue to climb around us in nearby counties, it’s going to be harder to convince younger ones that life will be the same. Well, it may not ever be the same after this ordeal, but maybe it can be changed for the better…better in the sense that we know what’s truly important for our kids. For now, what’s truly important is that our kids feel safe.

Even though my children are teenagers and young adults, they still need to be reassured that everything will be okay. I need to remember this fact.

Education is always instrumental to our children, but knowing what kids really need at the right time and place is also crucial to their adjustment of the unfamiliar.

Stay blessed everyone…we’re in for the long haul… with our hearts in the right mindset and hopefully loving those closest to us.