ILX Parenting 6: "Put Some Goddamn Pants On Before You Go Outside!" is a thing I say now

I definitely think it will last until the end of this term, and even if they get the outbreak under control I'm not sure they'd want to risk opening schools again during summer, just in case.

Better not to imo

My wife and I incredibly lucky that we can wfh and don't have to worry about our jobs (yet) but we've barely made it through the last couple of days as a family without strangling each other

I meant better not to think beyond the next couple of weeks.. (or next couple of hours tbh)

Am I being incredibly naive to think that testing could - at least theoretically - be brought in at a level that might make a difference and inform the reduction of risk?
Also - when did school terms get so short! They lasted forever when I was a kid, all this was bluebells etc

My son started making a register yesterday for 'school at home'. he said he was going to make his friends out of paper. think we'll all be doing that at some stage

:o

Our kid was sick for our university spring break and home from preschool for a whole week - then went back for five days and now is home indefinitely. So he's home, solo, with two parents working from home on alternating days and is already getting twitchy from no contact with his school friends. It's going to really suck in a week.

On the plus side I've been teaching him to ride a bike and he's almost got it...

Hoping for some nicer weather in the coming weeks so I'll be able to take mine out for walks.

My 11 yo daughter has started coming on runs with me which is great (and has already beaten her mum's 5K PB)

xp I'm hoping mine will learn to ride his bike too during all this

Reflexively drawing up an agenda for each day, charted out, as if it'll make a fucking lick of difference

Nah sounds good. At least you'll have a starting point.

Day 5: online clarinet lessons are from noon to two, then it's yogurt break

Day 35: Jesus, kid, just go watch some fucking YouTube

our kids definitely benefit from structure, knowing what's going to happen from one day to the next. the parents who are more free-ranging their kids right now are driving my wife crazy with all their cutesy stupid recommendations

There is a limit to how many cutesy stupid shit you can do and not have it feel utterly hollow and perfunctory. A limit to how many pillow forts, dixie-cup pyramids, and sugar-cube castles one can build.

Today we have already taken a nature walk, made blueberry muffins, cleaned out a closet, and did a half-hour of watercolor painting. It's still only two fucking twenty pee em.

We were free-wheeling yesterday and it sucked. Today we have a schedule and it is a million times more calm.

for us continued schooling has been great. it gives the girls direction throughout the day, they conference in with various teachers at different times, there are tons of math sheets we've been able to give them, and giving them lots of reading time, and the teachers assign work through seesaw that they can do and send back for review and discussion. and then before this we had no screen rules during the week that we've totally relaxed so that when they're not doing schoolwork they can play video games, watch movies whatever. it has been a week from today that we started isolation (and monday when distance education started). idk how it will feel 5-22 weeks from now but so far we've been able to make it work

yeah it's working ok for us - we have some structured school-type stuff (math, reading/writing, science), recess (exercising outside), they take an "art walk" around the neighborhood in the morning, they get a little screen time/free time. Oldest daughter has gotten on a weekly video-conferenced D&D game with a couple of her friends, which is great (the local gamestore has set up a network of dungeon masters from their weekly gaming sessions).

Hardest thing is going to be managed the 2yo as well I think

*managing

Just occurred to me today that the 2yo hadn't been out of our house (and garden) for a full week. Took them for a walk down a country lane and saw animals plus tractors, so that's good.

We started potty training a few days ago. Thought today we were finally making progress until I looked over to him on (a towel on) the sofa, half asleep with an absolutely massive shit next to him.

Definitely his? Home isolation does funny things to people.

ha!

lol

my kids have both turned into little liars. they sneak things like videos and candy that they get from who knows where whenever they can and just blatantly lie to our faces about it. it's relatively harmless but my god. "no! i swear! we weren't doing (x)!"

https://66.media.tumblr.com/39eb05d25a4c927dbcb1a1d75c031c9c/tumblr_pdy5viLzqG1tzgg1ao1_1280.jpg

My daughter walked into our bedroom coughing after having something to drink that went down the wrong tube. She said that she had a glass of cider, but there were no empty glasses of cider anywhere. It is likely that she was drinking water from the tap, which is forbidden because our well water is kinda nasty. But she stuck to the cider story.

American or European cider?

(Or other)

American! Just dirty apple juice, basically. Not booze.

I'm recovering from a broken leg and my wife has a bad back that kinds comes and goes. So we're kinda groany and we talk to each other about our aches and pains.

The kids have picked up on this and their ailments are multiplying quickly. "I CAN'T SLEEP, MY TEETH HURT!!!" "I THINK I BROKE MY FOOT!!!" "MY BACK IS SORE!!!"

my 3 year old hurt her foot and was limping around and noticed she got special treatment and now she fakes it all the time

tbf its pretty hilarious to watch her jumping around and then see her face shift and say "my foot hurts!" when she wants to be picked up

When the ten year old has the slightest sort of a leg/foot problem she limps around the house as though her kneecap has been broken.

I will point out that by walking goofy she is likely to hurt her other leg/foot. She will then become indignant: "I CAN'T HELP IT, I'M HURT!!!"

Her school keeps her occupied a good bit throughout the day. The five year old needs waaaay more attention though. It is exhausting to have this much one-on-one time with a little kid, as much as I love her.

Trying to work at the same time is driving me fucking insane

yeah it can be a nightmare. we spent the weekend cleaning the house and it was all trashed by Monday morning. every 2 minutes its something

Yep

Yesterday I FaceTimed with a friend in London with a kid. 15 minutes after our call ended his kid broke his leg on the backyard trampoline. I cannot imagine.

I'm terrified something is going to happen and we'll need to take somebody to the hospital. I cut myself while washing a knife and as I clenched the wound above my head I closed my eyes and mumbled "please no stitches, please no stitches, please no stitches...."

The ten year old was getting ambitious and wanted to help with dinner by cutting vegetables. I told her no, and that if she needs stitches during the pandemic that I'm going to do it and it won't be fun. Her eyes got wide.

tbh the thing that terrifies me most about the virus isn't necessarily the chance that I'll die it's that if the wife and I get sick there's basically no one to take care of the kids

if indeed we get the "sleep 18 hours and can't get out of bed" variety of the sickness

yep I was just wondering what to do in that situation and the answer is still 'I have no idea'

My 2yo keeps lying down near the stairs and calling me saying 'fall down, big bump'

frogbs otm

If it were just me in an apartment full of books and bourbon and guitars, I would prolly be like "yeah, I've had an okay run."

But with a partner and with tiny people depending on me/us? That is a different calculus.

Even just one parent going into a fevered isolated stupor for a month would NOT be workable, as the other person would have to become simultaneously the main breadwinner AND main caregiver.

Not possible for me to accomplish on my best day. My wife is great but also... no. Could not work.

hi people guardians,

just dropping in to say: I'M STILL NOT HAVING A BABY!!

but for those that do, you might find this interesting or useful:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-prep-build-your-own-team-hall-of-fame/

Build Your Own Team Hall of Fame
Overview: A two-week unit centered around the Hall of Fame.

You’ve just been appointed the director of your favorite team’s Hall of Fame. Your first task is to evaluate a single player for possible election to the Hall. Then, you’ll build a new set of criteria for election and determine which players are eligible.

Learning Objectives:

Identify a main thesis or point
Form arguments to support the thesis or main point
Research facts and data to support arguments
Construct a compelling persuasive essay with proper structure
Review criteria for evaluation and suggest changes or improvements to your team’s Hall of Fame
Explain the reasoning behind making those changes or improvements
Evaluate a dataset using a set of criteria to identify data points that fit
Project potential fits based on historical data

just thought it was a cool idea that sneaks in some legit educational value, and although it says Grades 9-10, i think i would have loved this the most when i was in 6th grade.

i'm a big fan of emily oster's expecting better. turns out she has a mailing list that has, for the past couple of months, been pretty detailed explainers on what data we have/how to make decisions about parenting These Days.

https://emilyoster.substack.com/ (click “let me read it first” to see the archive)

some good ones

https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/pregnancy-covid-19-updates
https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/can-kids-transmit-the-virus
https://emilyoster.substack.com/p/grandparents-and-day-care

we're having to decide whether to send my kid back to school for the final 6 weeks if they reopen as the govt is hoping. initially I was like "No way" but I'll admit I'm tempted now. they will be in a group of max 15 kids with various steps taken to keep everything clean.

we live in a fairly rural region with only 350 ppl in hospital for COVID in the whole of the region (population approx 5.6m).

We’re in the same boat Kinder, except we’re in a city and are almost certainly carrying antibodies now (see Rona thread) so the risk of our child passing it on or catching it from others isn’t so much of an issue for us. Our priority is his mental health as a six-year-old only child. At the moment he sees nobody his own age and has an impatient home tutor. Pods of 15 at school, with the entire afternoon spent outside seems infinitely preferable given our set of circumstances. Thank goodness we got into the school with masses of outdoor space - quite the rarity in London.

There seems to be a lot of concern with kids getting Kawasaki disease post-COVID but not sure if that's just internet scaremongering or has basis in fact. (There are some news articles about it but nothing to imply it's widespread)

it is very low risk but it does appear to be real. it’s not Kawasaki but it is like it.

madchen, how are you guys all feeling physically now? hope you're through the worst. I'm sure school will be a welcome return to a bit of normality and sounds like you're well set.

My kids are older (youngest is 13) but we won't be sending them back before September at the earliest. But we have no pressure to do so: both my wife & I have been working from home since the start & for me at least that'll continue for a long time it seems.