Even If You Haven’t Felt Like You Were “There”—You Were
Since many of us have just been trying to survive, we’ve felt like the exact opposite of a great parent. Personally, I have often had the feeling of being so stretched by just trying to make it through this time, that I have worried I’m not doing anything well.
Yet it turns out, it’s not always about us “doing” stuff. Rather, our kids have been positively impacted just by being around us and with us so much more. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t arrange the perfect origami, homeschooling, or virtual piano lesson to keep our middle schooler occupied during our Zoom meetings, or that we had to resort to Disney+ as a babysitter for chunks of the day. Apparently, there have been many, many other chunks of the day—far more than we realized—in which we were available to listen to a concern, give a hug, cheer on a winning video game, bake bread together, or watch a family movie. And that has made an enormous difference to their well-being.
Yes, the activities our kids love have been reduced or cancelled, and that is so sad for all of us. And our own work and activities have been pretty radically disrupted in many cases too. Personally, in our case, our household income was drastically affected by the cancellation of all our speaking engagements. But despite all of that, there is a true silver lining. If things have to be so disrupted, it is priceless to know that our kids have grown closer to us as we simply spend more time together in the same house. And that growing closer also helps them become much more confident in themselves at the same time!
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