Thursday, August 12, 2021

It's Okay For Your Children To Be Unsure Right Now

 Parents, you need to hear this. You need to know this and understand this. It's okay for your children to be unsure right now. They're facing another school year in a pandemic, amid political tensions, and high opinions. If you live in a state that has banned mask mandates, as our state has, they're likely facing challenges within their own belief systems. You're children can feel all of this and they are unsure.

One minute they're excited for school to begin and the next they're asking not to go. One minute they say they're excited to not have to wear masks in the classrooms and the next they're worried about getting sick themselves. They're worried what their friends will say if they're wearing masks or worried what they may be accused of if they don't. School is a battlefield and masks are the new segregation (unfortunately). 

This is what your children are facing upon returning to school. Tell them all you want that it will be okay, but since the pandemic began, school is a whole new ballgame. It's one I can't pretend to know anything about, but I can tell you exactly how kids are feeling. They're unsure, they're worried, they're anxious. Do you know what I tell them whenever they share their concerns?

I don't tell them it will be okay. I tell them my feelings, I share my fears and anxieties of the moment, I empathize as much as I can. I feel for them. They have had so much placed on their small, but mighty shoulders in the last eighteen months and they know it. This asinine battle of masks vs. no masks is felt by them because it concerns them. It's okay for your children to be unsure right now. Ask them about it. Talk to them about it. Just don't blow it off with a, "it will be okay."