The New Normal

“I forgot my mask!”

Mornings are hectic.  We all are rushing to get out of the house by 7.  Two catch the bus, one heads off to daycare and my husband and I head to work.  Being out of a morning routine for so long made the first few weeks of the school year rough.  Get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, head down to the bus stop is the ideal routine.  But of course, with children, that doesn’t always go as planned.  Sometimes someone doesn’t like what’s for breakfast.  Another kid hates their outfit.   One doesn’t want to put socks on.  The other doesn’t want to brush their teeth.  But somehow, we all make it out the door in time for the bus.

But masks have added a whole new element to our mornings.  I keep a stash for work in my car.  I keep an extra one in the kids backpack for school.  But more often than not, we get down to the bus stop without a mask.  We have a pretty long driveway, with a somewhat steep hill, and the mask is usually sitting on the kitchen counter because after I handed it to my child, they set it back down.  Many mornings I’ve had to run up that driveway to grab the mask.  We haven’t been late yet.  And I’ve gotten quite the work out before 7 am.  For some reason, grabbing the backpack, lunch box, coat and shoes is an easy routine.  But add the mask in and the mask gets forgotten. 

This new normal hasn’t been all bad.  I am getting a workout going up and down the driveway.  The kids don’t seem to mind wearing the masks.  I think they’ve gotten used to it.  And they enjoy the new mask patterns their granndmother makes for them.  For some reason my kids love riding the bus.  I always got car sick as a kid and hated the bus.  But they love it and race each other down to the bus stop every day.  They also seem to be really happy being back into the routine of school.  Even though school looks different, this sense of normalcy has been good for them.

I was worried they would hate wearing their masks at school.  I was worried they’d hate having to sit at desks.  I was worried they’d hate not being able to share supplies with their friends.  But the biggest complaint has been the playground.  Each class is assigned an area of the playground for the day and everyone rotates throughout the week.  So the days they are not on the playground equipment is the days they complain.  Otherwise, they seem to be enjoying this new normal.    

Every day I ask how school was.  And every day they tell me they love it.  They are making new friends in their classes.  And they are enjoying their teachers.  My biggest worry was how Hayden would handle questions and comments about his clothes.  But he seems to be thriving.  Besides mentioning a kid questioning him once, he hasn’t said it’s happened again.  Or if it has, it hasn’t bothered him.  And I’m so glad he is so happy being himself and that he is accepted for being his true self at school.  The community gave all the new Kindergartners a bag filled with goodies.  Now, I’m not thrilled that there seemed to be just a boy and a girl option, because as I’ve said before shouldn’t clothes, toys, etc. just be for anyone? (However, that discussion is for another time).  But I am thrilled his teacher knew he would be so much happier with the girl option.  And he was.  He was so excited going through the items when he got home.  

Dance classes are also back, with limited options.  But they are back!  And Hayden is absolutely loving Hip Hop.  He wanted to do both ballet and Hip Hop, but unfortunately my work schedule didn’t make it possible to make it to class on time.  He is loving being able to dance again.  And some of his friends who aren’t in his class at school are in dance class.  So he loves that he gets to see his friends as welll.  

The only thing missing from our Fall extracurriculars is soccer.  Our area decided not to go ahead with Fall sports run by the school or clubs.  My oldest is definitely missing doing one of his favorite extracurricular activities.  But his biggest complaint is still when he can’t use the playground equipment at school.

So much has changed.  But so much has also remained the same.  The way we do things may be different.  Masks are now a part of our daily clothing.  But some semblance of normalcy has been good for the kids.  And they seem to have accepted the new normal.