This pandemic?
It won’t last forever.
Homeschooling your kids?
It won’t last forever.
Working full-time from home while overseeing insane virtual school schedules?
It won’t last forever.
We’re living in intense times. We — moms especially — are being stretched in ways we haven’t been stretched before. We are having to find creative ways to juggle all the balls, decide which balls can be dropped, and which balls can be thrown out the window.
It feels weighty, doesn’t it? It feels endless too.
This summer, I spent hours on the phone with different friends who, after hearing their schools’ plans for reopening, were all considering homeschooling. They were calling for advice, as I have homeschooled for a few years. I found myself telling them all the same thing, as they faced their daunting decisions:
“It won’t last forever. Whatever you decide. It won’t last forever. And if you hate the decision, after you’ve made it, you can always change that decision.”
As I repeatedly said those words to friends, I found that I was also saying them to myself.
My two-year-old makes homeschooling very difficult so I’ve had to get creative in what I do with him, in order to educate my older children. But you know what? His tantrums and his demands for attention?
They won’t last forever.
About a month ago, that same two-year-old started climbing out of his crib and, thanks to his newfound freedom, refused to nap. Even though he still needed it. For many many days, I would escort him back to bed not twice… not 29… but more like 45 times, tuck him back in, and beg him to sleep. It was exhausting and I had to remind myself…
It won’t last forever.
So many decisions — especially as they relate to our children — feel weighty and big and monumental. At least they do for me. Remember when our kids were itty bitty babies and refused a bottle or didn’t sleep through the night? Well meaning friends and family would remind me, “It’s just a stage. They’ll outgrow it.” In the moment, that felt ambiguous and unhelpful. I wanted to know when they’d outgrow it. When would I sleep again? When would they take that bottle so that they didn’t need me quite so much?
Now I look back and see they were right; those phases didn’t last forever. This pandemic won’t last forever. Neither will virtual school. Neither will the nap strikes or the tantrums.
We’ll get through it. One day at a time.
