To say that 2020 has been a strange year would be an understatement. Somewhere in between the months of lockdown, global protests and general unrest experienced pretty much everywhere in the world, I?ve been trying to prepare my three-and-a-half-year-old to start kindergarten.
Every September, my social feeds are flooded with images of kids decked out in their backpacks, with fresh haircuts, ready to take on the school year. I?ll admit, I often rolled my eyes at these shots?what was the big deal" But now that it?s my kid?s turn, I feel robbed.
As I write this in mid-August, we only have a vague idea what school is going to look like. And with the uncertainty of how this pandemic will continue to play out into the fall and winter months, and the lingering threat of a second wave, it?s likely that the classroom will be a place of uncertainty for the foreseeable future. This isn?t how I pictured my kid?s first day of school. Despite my silent judging, I know I would have taken the cute photo in front of the school?s brick wall and left with teary eyes, thinking of her toothy grin. But instead, I?m haunted by the images from the news of small kids in masks, separated by markers that keep them six feet apart as they quietly line up to enter the school building. Squeals of excitement are replaced by the intermittent beep of the thermometer as it takes each kid?s temperature and the hiss of the disinfectant spray sanitizing their school bags. The hallways are free of chaos, c...