Now is the Perfect Time to Lower that Parenting Bar

I will be stealing heavily from this article written in New York Cut's magazine because it is just so darn spot on. Thank you Kimberly Harrington for your words of affirmation. Read the article if you can!

"For those of us who find ourselves in this fortunate (and yet still potentially hellish) position [working from home while home-schooling], this is what I can tell you: I know panic, I know what it’s like to try to figure out your universe from scratch, and here’s another thing I know — you can do this. You just aren’t going to do it well. But that’s okay, none of us are."

I love this re-alignment of expectations. Acknowledge that this home-schooling and working from home combo is going to be very hard, and start laughing at yourself when you start to get grandiose ideas of how awesome a parent you COULD be at this time.... now is NOT the time! 


"Base it on when your kid typically has good focus or energy versus when they’re typically exhausted or riled up. Gang up hard-to-focus-on subjects during times when they’re at their best. Don’t disrupt those golden stretches with physical activity or screen time. You need those in your back pocket for when things get difficult."

Harrington suggests keeping a simple schedule and basing it off when your kids have the most energy. My schedule started off a bit more complicated (and WAY too packed), and now is much simpler which benefits both my kids and me.


"eat when they eat, drink when they drink, open the windows and inhale fresh air when they do. Eating can be a snack, a drink can be water, outside time can be walking the dog (as long as you stay far away from others when you venture out). You might think you can’t afford the time to do those three things, but I’m here to tell you, you can’t afford not to."

I've personally been struggling with letting go of the idea that each and every minute of my day needs to be efficient and focused on either work or keeping up with the systems that keep my house running. In "real life" this is how my mind works - 100% pushing towards efficiency. However, as these socially distant days continue on, I've noticed that it's not healthy to be 100% focused on efficiency because it's just not sustainable in this context. More to come in a future blog post about how I'm attempting to chill out a bit - a work in progress for me. 


"Bottom line: You are not a real school. No one expects you to be a real school. The best you can aim for is your kid having something somewhat educational or interesting to do on the days you work. My homeschool “days” were more like a few hours. I repeat: This is not real school. You can’t replicate a real school. Stop trying."

THIS.