Where’s My Copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expected To Parent in a Pandemic”

I don’t know how to parent well in a pandemic.

I don’t know how to juggle all the Zooms, all the homework, and all the different schedules for virtual learning without wanting to tear my hair out. I don’t know what to say when my frustrated and tearful children ask when they will be able to go back to “real” school. I don’t know how we can possibly continue this way of learning for several more months.

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I don’t know when to let things go. Is the feistiness coming from my 8-year-old something I need to address before it gets worse, or is it just a manifestation of all the ways his world has been turned upside down over the last seven months? Do I give extra grace or extra discipline?

I don’t know how to stop all the bickering between my kids. They never get a break from each other, and that is something they could both desperately use.

I don’t know how to share the weight of this mental load with my husband. Most of it falls onto me since I am with the kids 24/7, and he is able to escape to the office for eight hours a day. I am thankful for his job, but also a little resentful that I have to deal with all of this mostly on my own.

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I don’t know how to answer when my kids ask what Halloween will be like or Christmas or their birthdays. Will they get to go trick-or-treating? Will they get to see family? I don’t know what risks to take. I want to give them a normal holiday season, and I have no idea how to actually make that happen.

I don’t know how to fill up my own cup so I can continue to pour into others when I hardly ever get time to recharge. I don’t know how to not feel mentally and physically exhausted from the weight of everything that I have been carrying the last seven months.

I don’t know how to parent well in a pandemic.

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There is no manual for any of this. I can’t run to Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expected To Parent in a Pandemic” to guide me through this season of parenting.

So I find myself returning over and over to the same mantra: Just take it one day at time.

I pray for guidance as I make impossible choices. I pray for extra patience. I try to flip my focus back to gratitude when I feel the heaviness of our current world washing over me.

And I suppose that is how we will all survive this season of parenting during a time of so much uncertainty—by taking it one day, one choice, and one positive thought at a time.