"Please say a prayer for my dad who has to go to work every day."
I overheard my son say this to his classmates during Sacred Studies class yesterday. It was the first time I had heard my son express concern or a need for support during this global pandemic we are all living through.
During our shared work and school from home time, we’ve been having lots of conversations. We cover a range of topics from memes to school to Coronavirus. Early on when we talked about COVID-19, he shared that he’s doing alright and not worried about getting gravely ill because of his age. We also talked about missing school and friends. We’ve talked about the economic impact this situation is having on people and families. We’ve talked about the discriminatory way some people have been treating those of Asian heritage. We’ve talked about our family members who work in the health care field and those who are more vulnerable due to age or a medical condition. We had not talked about my husband/his dad going to work each day.
Throughout this stay at home order, my son has been a trooper. He’s been in good spirts and has been taking it all in stride considering what going on in the world. Or so I thought. I’ve been focused on his transition to virtual fifty grade. I’ve been focused on my school’s and students’ transition to remote learning. I’ve been thinking about all that my students may be navigating and worried about during this time. I had not paused to look beyond my son’s chill and business as usual exterior to see his worry about his dad getting sick because he leaves the home for work each day. I know this worry does’t consume my son, but it’s there and it’s real. While there is so much related to this global pandemic that I can not control, we are doing our part to stay safe and I will be wrapping my arms around my little one much more often.
