My daughter got up this morning at 7:30 and opened her laptop and sat next to me at the dining room table. We sat together for an hour as she did her homework and I worked. Then, she got up and made avocado toast and folded the laundry without me having to ask her.
While I know she is bored, missing her friends and looking for things to fill her days on a limited activity budget, she seems a lot happier than she was while school was in session. It wasn’t something I expected when I heard they’d be out for six weeks and it’s been a pleasant surprise.
Instead of constantly having to ask if she’s done her homework and handed in all her assignments (the answer usually being "no") she is now ahead in all of her classes. Her grades have shot up this past month. The drama is gone from her life. She doesn’t seem sad or moody like she was when she saw her friends all the time. She is eating breakfast — something I could never get her to do before heading out the door at 7 a.m. for ninth grade.
With her extra energy she’s been making crafts and redecorating her room. The other day she made a butterfly mobile instead of Snapchatting friends, which is something she used to spend her afternoons doing after school. (While I reminded her 10 times to do her homework.)
My boys are thriving too. Rather than retreating to their rooms after a long day at school, they are hanging out and enjoying family time. Instead of working on a school project a bit at a time and acting as if their toenails are being pulled out, they do it all in one swoop. And they seem happy about their productivity. Something my three, very lovely but very average kids, never used to do.
Let’s just say school has never been something my kids have enjoyed. Until now.
Maybe it’s because they feel they can set the workload at their own pace. Maybe it’s because they aren’t getting up at 5:45 to get ready for school. Maybe it’s because they aren’t using so much mental energy to deal with the social pressures of high school.
Whatever is happening, I’ll take it.
Of course, being in school is our first choice — we want more than anything for things to get back to normal and for this scary COVID-19 to say its goodbyes. We are all missing so much.
But watching my kids adjust these last few weeks and start taking their school work seriously has been a refreshing change for us. I’m not afraid to put a positive spin on this quarantine. It makes me happy to see my kids happy. I think we’ve all learned that’s the only thing that matters in this life — family, friends, loved ones and their well being.
The rest can be taken away so quickly, but if we have each other we can make it through anything.
Also, the four of us have been stuck in the house for three weeks and it looks like we have a lot more time ahead of us. I prefer my kids to be happy and continue their education so one day they can pick up where they left off.
Maybe this break from school was what they needed to take their education more seriously and appreciate the art of learning.
Stocksy
