I didn't log my children into remote learning the other day.
Around 4 p.m. Sunday we received the dreaded e-mail from Minneapolis Public Schools: "tomorrow will be an e-learning day."
My first response: "Nope, not doing it."
After taking a breath and gathering myself, my mature, second response was: "Nope, not doing it."
After almost two years of managing a pandemic with three children who are now in first grade, kindergarten and preschool, we're not doing it. My husband and I share parenting duties pretty equally; we all live under one roof, and we both work.
My husband is an economist, working in finance. I am a social worker, leading a local Twin Cities nonprofit. We both work for companies that are quite supportive of employees who are caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to both work and teach. And yet, with all the support and resources to manage this circus, we decided we're not doing it.
We're no longer twisting our lives into knots in order to make the impossible possible. We're not going to put a smile on our faces and pretend — as if a few hours' notice to pivot to home schooling is in any way, shape or form doable, acceptable or equivalent to in-person learning.
Parents want the best for their children, and over the past two years we've seen parents quietly and selflessly accept an unacceptable structure. Parents are losing sleep and sanity because good parents sacrifice themselves for their children. Good parents are martyrs.