A few weeks ago, my friend told me about a children’s book contest hosted by the Emory Global Health Institute. The submissions they were looking for were to be targeted toward kids ages six to nine years old, and the purpose was to explain the virus using science-based facts.
You know I’m all about the mental health side of things, and helping calm anxieties when I’m able to, so I chose to frame my submission from that standpoint.
If I hear the phrases, “uncertain times,” “trying times,” or my most dreaded, “unchartared territory,” because FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY, it’s un-effing-CHARTED, I AM GOING TO SET MYSELF ON FIRE.
orry for all the yelling, but sweet fancy Moses, can we come up with new terms?
And is it too much to ask to GET RIGHT the ones we’re over-using??
When I was growing up, my parents would take me to the library and set me to work going through reels of microfiche films to help them work on our family genealogy project. They taught me how to look up census records, and birth and death records, but I became fascinated with all the stuff in the middle.
I wanted to find out about what my ancestors did between those two events. The dates on their vital statistics records announced that they were born and then died.
As we enter our 49th week of quarantine, I thought I would--- Hm?. What’s that? We’re only on **checks notes** week one?
Is this a joke?
Our new quarantine meal plan consists of mostly Ruffles and Cadbury mini eggs, so even though we’re only ten days in, I’m up 32 pounds and drunk, thanks to starting a drinking game based on hearing the words, “I’m bored.”
We got our e-learning email from my son's teachers this morning and I am SO HAPPY to see that - in our school district, anyway - they’re making the focus about REVIEWING what the kids have learned this year, as opposed to learning new material.
This is fantastic news for all of us, but especially for those parents who still have to work outside the home and worry about how to help their kids with schoolwork, and for those of us who are just overwhelmed in general by the responsibilities of teaching our kids.
Kristan (Braziel) LeBaron is an author, writer, marketing professional, and the voice of the blog, Bring Mommy A Martini. Mom to two hilarious boys: one in college and the other in middle school, she writes “real mom” stories on life with anxiety & depression, and choosing happiness as a daily practice. She lives outside of Austin with her two sons and two lavishly kept dogs.
