Today was our family’s first day of homeschool. Not virtual school… real (all on me) homeschool. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it is definitely right for our family (discussion for another post).
During our first “school lunch” I’m sitting at the park thinking about how resilient my kids have been and how important picking my battles can be during homeschool. My children all love playing Pokémon Go on their tablets. When we discussed their expectations for homeschool my oldest asked if we could play during our visits to the park. My first thought was “we’re going to the park”??? He suggested we do lunch at the park and play Pokémon Go after we eat… Our park is a major hub for Pokémon Go activity. My husband and I were not totally sold on the idea. I was hoping his expectations would be, “I can’t wait to do art projects” or “I’m most excited about getting back to math”. Ha! Let’s all have a laugh. Anyhow, I said let’s give it a try, I asked and it was their suggestion after all.
Right now we’re at the park. They’re eating up their delicious lunch (okay, maybe just normal lunch) and they’re playing Pokémon Go. This came after their first day of sitting in our make-shift classroom after being out of school for nearly 6 months. Today they didn’t complain once, they completed their homeschool assignments and all showed an enthusiasm I was nervous might never come… This pandemic has hit them, and all children, hard! But it did come, and they’ve carried it all the way through the first half of the day. This has been quite the break and a nice reminder that we’re all surviving an unprecedented time. I’m going to take this time to enjoy a break from the pressure of everything and catch some Pokémon!
So… when it comes down to letting your kids have a little control over their schedule, life, daily routine, or whatever (within safe limits) we should let them. As the parent, we have to pick our battles… because honestly, these kids are fighting so many, I think they deserve to feel like the winner. I think we can also apply this to our own mental health needs… We have to pick the battles we’re going to fight within ourselves. Not everything has to be a challenge or make us feel like we’re “not doing it right” or “not doing enough”. Most often I find we are doing things right and we’re often doing enough!
Annalyse A. Lucero 