Kids Need School But Should We Send Them?
By: Jessica Hillis
Tags: Schools, Choices, Pandemic, Kids, Parenting

Parents are having to make a hard choice

Image by pedro_wroclaw from Pixabay

My kids are nine, seven, and five right now and they have been out of school since the middle of March, when the pandemic broke out. It’s been a challenge having them at home. Homeschooling didn’t go great and we are all going a bit stir crazy.

I am ready to have them go back

Heck, they are ready to go back. They are bored here and I am sure they are sick of me by this point. We are all bored and grouchy and need our routine back.

We have been following all of the recommendations as they come.

We stay home as much as possible. We don’t gather in big crowds. We wear masks when we do go out. We wash our hands and sanitize as much as possible.

Somehow we have been lucky in the fact that our county has very few cases. We are nowhere near a hot spot and could probably be a bit more lax if we wanted to. Why take that chance though?

I am doing all I can to keep us from getting sick and from spreading it to others. I’m part of society so I believe that means looking out for my fellow humans.

Will they be going back?

We are now in the middle of summer break. Usually around this time I am stocking up on school supplies and hitting up thrift stores for new clothes. I haven’t done that yet.

Mostly because I don’t think I’ll be sending my kids to school this year.

I know I am not the only one questioning this. Every mother I know is going through the same thing. Our kids want to go back to school. They need to go back to school. They want to see their friends. Kids do better with structure and schedule. At least my kids do.

Image by soumen82hazra from Pixabay

The anxiety that comes with sending them

Ever since my oldest started school, I had anxiety with sending him (and the other 2 as they started). Why? I always feared school shootings. I’d make sure to give them big hugs before school and tell them I loved them.

It was always in the back of my mind when they left that I might never see them again.

Was it a bit far fetched? Probably. School shootings are a threat but not a very high one. But as a mom with anxiety, you know that thought was there. But now? The threat of losing them is there and it is very real. People are dying and it isn’t slowing down.

Sure, they can wear masks. But considering my kids treat winter gloves and hats like they are disposable, I don’t think it will work out as well as we would hope. I can maybe trust my own kids to keep theirs on but I have no control over what the other kids are doing.

People will die

Look at it this way, someone is going to get sick. Someone is probably going to die. Who will it be? Will it be my child, your child, or a teacher? Who are we willing to sacrifice here?

I’m not comfortable with making that choice.

I would love nothing more than to send my kids back to school. Except it won’t be the same school they left in March. Things will be so different, is it even worth it? What happens when (not if) someone tests positive? Do we quarantine the whole class or the entire school?

There is no good answer to any of this. Either choice brings consequences. Our children are suffering emotionally by being kept home, away from structure and friends. But if we send them, the consequences could be much worse.

As of now, with the numbers on the rise, my choice is going to be to keep my kids home. I am lucky enough to have this option. We are a two parent household and there is always an adult home. I know not everyone can do that.

I know they won’t like it, I know they will be upset. I hope they understand and know that this is nowhere near what I wanted for them when I decided to have kids.

They are missing out on a big part of childhood but I just can’t take the risk

How could we, as parents, ever live with ourselves if something ever happened to our children that could have been prevented?

It’s my job to keep them safe and this is the best way I know how.

I wish it wasn’t this way. I wish I could send my 5 year old on her first day of kindergarten and only worry about if she will miss me and if she is making friends. I don’t want to worry about her catching a deadly virus on top of that.

All I can hope for is that this will be over soon enough. That we can get control of this virus and return to a new type of normal. A normal that benefits our children.