How do you handle change?  Change can be very difficult for some people, including myself.  Typically, I become defensive and look to avoid.  My mindset becomes negative, attempting to find every reason not to embrace.  When there are no great reasons, I revert to…”I just don’t want it.”  However, after I have had time to understand and process, I begin to accept the change.  As I have gotten older, this process has become easier. 

We’ve been asked to accept a tremendous amount of change over the last eighteen months.  At first, many of us rolled with it, but it has worn thin on many with a general sentiment of anger.  I tend to believe a lot of us have been asked to accept change when we think about school for our children.  Last summer, many families were advocating for their children to be back in school.  Many parents were vocal about feeling that any time in school would be better than nothing.  Others felt you could just send children back to school with masks, willing to accept the change of wearing the mask as long as in-person learning was occurring.  

By late May, the narrative changed, as many students were back in school full time or close to full time, but now parents wanted the masks removed.  Many of the reasons made sense, including it being too hot in buildings and research showing minimal spread among the youngest age groups.  We saw many become angry, choosing to keep their students home.  We are now at a point where parents want their children back in school full time and unmasked.  

As we look forward to the upcoming school year, there is uncertainty again about what to expect.  Will children need to wear masks again?  Is wearing the mask the issue?  Is having our children back full-time the issue?  Is it the fact that we are still trying to accept change and what occurred in our world beginning back in March 2020?  What is the issue?  Questions abound and the answers are not easily coming. 

Let’s instead think about the bigger concern here.  Are our children learning and thriving or falling behind?  Are we so focused on the mask debate that we don’t really know if our children are learning?  How is your school creating learning opportunities for our children to regain their lost learning?   Even with the chaos of the world around us, are they progressing?  We, as adults, can set the stage for our children as long as we are focused on the right questions.  How we really help is to gain the proper perspective ourselves and then focus our attention and energy on advocating for their learning.  

For more information on coping with change: 

Helping Children Cope with Changes Resulting from COVID-19

Guide to dealing with constant change due to COVID-19

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