Coronavirus Changes

03/16/20

I will be the first to admit my internal monologue tends to have a flair for the dramatic. I am a writer, after all. I’ll tell you something, Neocities. I wondered today if this is what it feels like to stand at the precipice of change–that point where a seismic societal shift must occur. As time passes, and this situation evolves, that feels less like dramatic thinking.

We told Minnow we are going on a special family holiday and we can spend time together at home and at the park but we cannot go to indoor places. Minnow made me promise we would go the library as soon as it opens, but now it’s looking like that may be farther off than I originally thought. I think Minnow is an extravert (by contrast, Marlin in an introvert and I am a deep state introvert living miles beneath the earth’s crust in a pillbox of my own design) so being away from other children will be difficult for them, but I’m thinking of setting up a webcam so we can have video chats.

When I realized school would be out for much longer than two weeks I decided we would need to set up a routine for Minnow’s weekdays. We’ve got a chart divided into sections: workbooks (learning), crafts, exercise, free play, TV, and snack time. A while back we picked up a bunch of preschooler workbooks at the Dollar Tree and secondhand store, so each day I’ll set aside a few pages for learning time based on whatever the school would have been doing (right now, letter S) and if we burn through those I’ll start digging up stuff online. I also decided to milk St. Patrick’s Day for all it’s worth, so we made paper shamrocks yesterday (starts with S–victory!) and we’ll figure out some green-themed crafts today and tomorrow.

Due to the nature of my work I can get up early and get a head start on my workload, so by the time Minnow gets up it’s easier to weather many, many child interruptions. I’m hoping that if anything, this period allows Minnow to learn to be more independent and self-entertaining.