Let it Go, Parents. Let it Go.

Permission for parents during the pandemic

Photo of author and her daughter by Amanda Marie Studio

I keep hearing the same thing over and over right now: the poor children.

The poor children who don’t get to see their friends. Who don’t get to go to school. Who can’t play sports or go out to dinner or visit their grandparents.

I hear this often and I say it often because my heart breaks for children right now. This would be a hard time to grow up, particularly for those who don’t understand what’s going on, or for those who missed out on their graduations or proms. This sucks for them.

But right now I want to focus on the parents because this shit is hard.

Moms, dads, caretakers of one or multiples — I see you.

If you’ve pulled out the iPad more times than you’d like to admit, let it go.

If you’ve relied on the TV so you didn’t have to come up with an activity to preoccupy your kids, let it go.

If your reason to leave the house every day is to go to the Starbucks drive-thru, let it go.

If you’ve served mac and cheese for lunch for the past week, let it go.

If you take your kids to Target because you have to pick up a prescription, and maybe because you want to look at Christmas decor, but…