Thoughts on the Transition from Online to In School Learning

In keeping up with how the school year is going in Saint Louis, today my son returned to in person learning. My daughter went back two weeks ago, to pre k, and my son returned to his third grade classroom today.

It has been seven months since he was in an actual classroom. He went to summer camp, but that was all outdoors, and masked. He played two baseball games before his season was postponed, then ultimately canceled. He has started to play flag football at a local sports spot, also masked. But today is the first day since March that he will be around more than two of his friends. His classroom is full, a little too full if you ask me, of kids his age. He is in one of the three rooms that has in person learning, filled with about 18 kids and one teacher. Now, they are masked, they are being taught the correct way to wash hands, they have assigned seats and assigned lunch time, as well as recess, and they have to follow every safety protocol. I will say, while the state of Missouri hasn't been doing great with curbing COVID, the city and county of Saint Louis have actually done a good job. The state is up 20 percent, but the city and county are down 7 percent. We have mask mandates and the mass majority of people are following the simple rules without throwing a fit. That is why my son and daughter are able to return to their classrooms. The people in charge out here, Democrats, have listened to doctors and scientists, and we have done a solid job of slowing the spread. I do understand that at any moment both kids could be home due to an outbreak. But for the time being, they are in class because we listened to the right people, didn't turn it political and are doing the right things.

I will say that it wasn't euphoric or joyful like I had thought it would be when I dropped my son off this morning. I had been saying that I wanted my kids back in school when it was safe. I mentioned during the summer that I hoped they would be able to start in late August as they intended to. Even when they announced they would be online for the first quarter, I still had hope that they would be able to attend in person earlier than expected. I had all these ideals, that if it were safe, they would both be in school, and that it would be great. I am happy for the kids because they are getting some much needed socialization, quality teaching and a safe place to play, but I miss them. I miss my daughter for those three hours she is in school. I am really, really missing my son too. As I write this, while he was learning virtually, he would usually come and hang out and do his writing assignments while I write my blog. He isn't here right now, and that is weird for me. When I dropped him off, the car was too quiet. Lunch was just me, my wife and daughter. I missed my son being there with us to say some random nonsense that always makes us laugh. Miles is fun to be around, and I guess it took a global pandemic, and school being closed for four months to in person learning, for me to appreciate that about him. I've always known he was fun to be around, and have relished this time we have gotten to spend together, but now that he is back in school, I miss it, and him.

I am happy for him though. Miles is a social butterfly, and he has taken this pandemic hard. We went a few months without seeing anyone. It was just the four of us. Then we added my folks and my wife's mom. Then we added my wife's step mom, brother and dad. And then we let him see two friends. That was it. For seven months, my son, who just wants to talk and play and be around people, only got to see, outside of me, his mom and sister, eight total people. He was excited, but also nervous this morning too. I am sure that the moment he walked into class, and realized that it was similar to last year, with obvious new safety protocols in place, he was fine. I am sure he is happy to be around the friends he has made the past four years in his school. I know he is having fun being able to see his teacher in person, and not on a screen. And I say again, I know that this can be taken away at any moment, and he knows this too. But, for the time being, he is happy, my wife and I feel like he is in the second safest place he can be, our home being first, and he is getting some much needed socialization that he has been craving for seven months now. I hope it works out, and I hope it stays safe. That is up to us, to the school and to the administrators, but they have shown tenfold that they are listening to the right people and doing the right, smart and safe thing.

I miss my son, but I am happy for him. Now lets see what happens from here. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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