My Social Butterfly Has Lost Her Wings - Revisited

I am continuing to look at blog posts from the previous year and this one really struck home. The original post is below, but so much has changed since then. We have ventured into the world of virtual kindergarten. My little social butterfly is struggling. She just wants to make friends in her class, but that is so hard to do when online for 20-30 minutes at a time.

Luckily, since this post I have allowed my kids to go back to daycare. My 5 year old gets to go once a week on Wednesdays, when school is just small group time. It is SO good for her mentally. She NEEDS to have socialization with other kids. I have been told numerous times that staying home with mommy is NOT fun.

While we have eased up on our social outings (ie. we visit the playground every now and then if it isn't too busy, she gets to go to the store with me every now and then), there are still a lot of things that she is knows she is missing out on. She wants to travel and do fun things, but it just isn't the time yet.

This post reminded me that we are still in the middle of pandemic, especially with cases slowly starting to rise again. We have to make sure we are checking in on our children. While we think this is all hard for us as adults, it is even harder for the kids. So yes, my little social butterfly is has gained part of her wings back, but she is nowhere near full flight like if she was in the school building. I hope for ALL of the kids sake we can get this virus under control and slowly get our kids lives back to normal.

Original Post - March 17, 2020

Last night was tough. I was trying to put my 5 year old to bed and she was fighting it like a champ. When she avoids bedtime she asks questions and lately these questions have been hard.

In the past week I’ve had to explain to her that our trip to Tennessee to visit family has to be postponed. She doesn’t get to go to daycare and see her friends. Gymnastics is canceled until further notice. We all have to stay at home even though daddy has to go to work which in her eyes is “not fair”. 

My little social butterfly is losing her wings because of a virus that is challenging to explain to a 5 year old. She understands that right now there are bad germs in the world and the safest place for us to be is in our house, but she’s a planner and she wants to know for how long. She thrives off of being able to play with her friends and go to gymnastics.

While everyone is worrying about missing school, online learning, parents becoming teachers... don’t forget to also check in on your child’s social and emotional well-being.

These are tough times. There’s a lot of uncertainty and that’s scary for a child. So while I encourage you to try and continue helping your child learn, also know that it’s ok to just focus on survival. 

This morning we made green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day. We made it into an art lesson. What colors mixed together will make green? It was fun. We all need to find more of these little teachable moments that will help all of us get through the new norm for the next who knows how many weeks.

Remember, check in with your kids, family, and friends. We all have a lot going on and we need each other right now.