Brave Tuesdays

Grocery Shopping vs. Online Home School — the new Parent Dilemnia amidst Covid-19

It’s the beginning of Week 3 of Covid-19 Social Distancing. Day 15 at home.

Monday, March 30, 2020, it will be me who will brave Trader Joe’s. My husband just got some work, so he needs to stay home. For the past two weeks we have benefitted from his forward thinking and online shopping. We have essentials. My 80 year Dad has been living in the moment and now has a grocery list. My husband and I deliberate on which store and decide it will be Trader Joe’s because the kids love the fruit rolls and turkey jerky- only found at TJ’s. We plan ahead the night before. My husband finds a box of gloves and masks we already have in the tool shed. I listened to the online doctor from Cornell in NYC, I am determined to not touch my face. I have my two grocery lists, my gloves, my mask. I feel confident, I can do this.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 9am, is “ Day 12” of school online, at home. We have 2 kids, so this means, 2 computers, 2 different learning centers. My oldest son, a seventh grader, is tech savvy and self-sufficient, which means he is quiet at his computer from 9am -1pm. I have no idea if he is learning anything. Meanwhile, my daughter is 7 and in second grade. She takes her learning very seriously. Her teachers are “totally flexible,” however my daughter is not. She wants to do the exact…