There’s an old African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.” It means that the community as a whole comes together and commits to pooling their wisdom, knowledge, and compassion to ensure that each child in the village is cared for and are instilled with the values and skills that would allow them to survive and prosper. This sense of community relies on the generous interdependency of all members simply because they want to support each other.
That saying has never been more true than now. In March when schools went through a precautionary closure to monitor the COVID-19 situation, I optimistically thought that it was just an excessively careful response to an unknown threat and it would be dealt with swiftly and efficiently and life as we knew it for our kids would continue. But those two weeks of distance learning turned into four; with the news getting more and more bizarre as time wore on. Soon the school district was sending notifications stating distance learning would continue for the foreseeable future.
For someone who works from home prior to the pandemic, having a child home during work hours is not the equation for success. I struggled with juggling technological issues for my child’s class and my own work meetings. There was a steep learning curve for my child, who at the time of school closure didn’t even have her own computer. Her exposure to computers up to that point was one hour of computer lab time with her classmates per week. In addition, that one hour of lab consisted of playing math or grammar games, not downloading PDFs and learning how to edit, save, and upload them.
My stress levels spiked in those early days and I vented my frustrations broadly and loudly. I told the teacher, other parents, my boss, peers, and friends; anyone who would listen that distance learning for an elementary school aged child was a nightmare. Instead of getting condemned for my rants, which I admit now may have been childish and anxiety filled, I was met with compassion. Tons of people whom I loosely knew as parents from my child’s class volunteered suggestions. We created a group chat where some of the parents alternated summarizing the daily lessons and what tips were discussed (since kids aren’t reliable note takers). I had friends who are the parents of kids in other classes volunteer to help mine via FaceTime if I was stuck working.
Here we are nine months into distance learning and I know these women saved my sanity. I am so thankful for these women, some I’m proud to call my friends and others whom I only knew through my child’s class. It’s difficult to articulate the level of anxiety and stress that comes with watching your child cry out of frustration on a zoom call. It’s hard to see your child give up on trying to learn something because the technological barrier of accessing an app or downloading a worksheet is too overwhelming. I can’t even imagine how bad it is for other parents who don’t have this kind of support. Cheers to the superwomen who make distance learning bearable for me and my child every day. I don’t thank you enough. THANK YOU.
