So, today is the first day that everyone in my household has gone to their “day” activities since December 22—yes, that’s over an entire month. We had daycare break starting on December 23rd so the girls were home because of that until the beginning of January. We then took a short family vacation for four days. Then right after that we had a domino effect of positive COVID tests. I received the first positive test on January 8th, which meant that since everyone in my family was in close contact with me, we would all be in quarantine for at least five days.
On day five, January 13th my husband then tested positive for COVID. This then became our new “day one” of quarantine. He tested again five days after his original test, January 18th, and was still positive so the quarantine continued. It’s now January 24th and we are finally in the clear (because we all tested negative yesterday). It’s been a month! I have been trying to rationalize why having both of my girls at home was so taxing this go round, and have come to the conclusion the cumulative effects of COVID are putting a lot more stressors on parents and individuals, themselves. Yes, since COVID began daycares closed for a while, and then when they opened back up, they opened for a shorter day (which is still the case even today—the times that daycare is open is 7:30-5:00, instead of the 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. schedule pre-COVID). Once daycares opened, they also had unpredictable room closures—if one of the children in the room was suspected of having COVID then the entire room shut-down for the week. This made it really hard on working families to juggle careers and childcare. This juggling, which was seen this past month, has not become easier instead it is become the “expectation” and the “norm”. It, however, also seems to have intensified. I think it feels like it has intensified because there was a sense of relief that came when adults were fully vaccinated and then received the booster. Others probably felt another sense of relief when their children were fully vaccinated; having two kids three and under I did not have this second wave of relief. I did, however, feel like society was beginning to open up again and that made it seem like we were moving in the right direction. Then December hit and the Omnicron variant of COVID came around and it home. Everyone in the house ended up being fine. We all reacted to the virus very differently. My husband had respiratory and congestion in his lungs. I had chills and severe feelings of dehydration with headaches (despite drinking over a gallon of water and having electrolytes) each day. My youngest, Zoey, was super tired, cranky, and had some bathroom issues. And Izzy did not show any signs of illness. After thinking about writing this post, I read this article and the article really does capture how parents feel “broken” right now. I know that I am a family that has the flexibility and financial stability to weather this COVID storm. I can accommodate having my children stay home for a month as Omnicron ran its course and I can adapt to the daycare closures and reduced hours, but some families can’t and/or this provides a real hardship for them. With the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ending on December 31st and this new uptick in Omnicron, what are we doing to families? With Childcare understaffed and underpaid, what are we doing to support those that take care of our young children? In New Hampshire, and in other states, there is a bipartisan bill, The Workforce behind Workforce Act, that asks for help in the recruitment, training, and retention of childcare workers. To sign on in support of this bill, please click here (link is only available until 1/26/22 though). As a parent, I just find myself wondering into the abyss: what is next? And in what new resilient way am I going to have to respond. This constant anxiety is what is so taxing. This constant anxiety and “way of living” is what is creating this cumulative effect; it is now a chronic presence rather than something we hoped would be an acute stress for a moment in time. It is what is making us, as parents, want to go out and just scream (as the article linked above suggested) in a socially distanced but therapeutic way! As a parent, how are you feeling the effects of COVID? How are you and your family responding? Can you resonate with the cumulative effects and chronic stress COVID is causing? How are you keeping it together (even if it is just in appearance (and only on some days)? I could and most likely will write about the effects COVID has on teachers and schools, but not in this post. From a structural standpoint, I am going to try to write one weekly personal/parenting/family post and one work/research/teaching post. I think this will help with a work-life balance focus I am trying to achieve. I also think if I write a personal post at the beginning of the week (on Monday) then I can start my week off by clearing some thoughts and getting my brain focused on writing and producing. My “work” post will come later in the week (Thursday/Friday) as I reflect on something I learned, produced, or thought about during the week.
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