Think Again

Corona has made us all stop in our tracks.  Life just came to a grinding halt.  For some it’s been a pause button while for others a reset. There are a few things that struck me this past week which were worth discussing.

First, as I talked about earlier, my daughter graduated high school this week. As opposed to the typical graduation (where everyone feels obligated to come but typically most don’t find the experience uplifting or personal), this experience felt deeply personal and extremely exciting. The school clearly thought through this and tried to find a way to make this momentous even though it was atypical. Now, I realize that desperate times call for desperate measures and I’m not so far gone as to assume that this can be recreated in a typical “normal” time but it did make me stop and think. Is there some way we, as in the royal we (our principals, our schools, us parents) can rethink the way things were done and improve them? Can we learn from these experiences and use them to shape, change and improve the way we do things? Why stop at graduations? The world is our oyster and this time of craziness can have some silver lining. We could use this as an opportunity to re-examine the way we did certain things and make them better.

Perhaps we need to think of a few things we dread most in our communal/parental life (think dinners, graduations, school presentations in the middle of your workdays, speeches...whatever It is for you). Once identified, I wonder if you could think of a few options to change or tweak them which could make them enjoyable instead of obligatory. I don’t think these solutions will come fast or easily, but I think if enough people put their minds to it, some great ideas will come forth.

Before I make my second point - I acknowledge this is gonna sound harsh to some and you may vastly disagree.

So with that caveat, second, on a completely different note, I’ve been hearing people discussing this summer over and over. Most conversations go something like this:
“Such and such summer program just announced it cancelled”
“Another one?? It just keeps coming”
Now, while you have my sympathy that plans have once again been cancelled - I think it’s time to face the situation head on. Let’s look at the facts:
- it’s been months and this thing is still here and still real
- there is no quick fix
- even though we’ve been well behaved and following  the  rules, we don’t get a pass to start lessening the rules until we’re given the go ahead by our states
So, my main point here is - stop being so surprised! Make the expectation at this stage that things are closed indefinitely and make that plan A at this point. The constant disappointment is too much to deal with and won’t make it any easier on yourselves or your kids.

Silver lining that most people who are accustomed to sending their kids to camp may not like to hear - your kids are going to have an old fashioned To Kill A Mockingbird type summer (Think Jem and Scout and how they spent most of their time). They can bum around, discover the outdoors, bike ride, play in your sprinkler, and do all number of things they may not have done in a while. They’ll have plenty of time to explore and use their imaginations. There’s a lot of benefits to this. Not being programmed is not all bad.

Yes, for those of you who, like me, work during the day - it will take some teamwork, flexibility and patience (in heavy doses) - but I truly believe you’ll all end up better for it. Embrace the new norm.

It can definitely be like waking up in an alternate reality - but don’t those make the best stories sometimes?

So I guess it is up to each of us to decide - is this a pause or a reset?