Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Advocating for better policies is my current coping mechanism.

A group of us in the area is advocating for updating COVID-19 daycare policies to decrease the crushing quarantine burden and enable optional masking for children. Please see below for our advocacy guides and petition.

Montgomery County daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/yd2jr5pu

DC daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/57sapzjy

Petition: https://chng.it/vTzRTQKGHf

Y'all should consider NoVa advocacy too!

Yes I'm sorry we haven't done so yet! But it shouldn't be difficult to locate the appropriate NoVa public officials and make the same case to them. Also, my understanding is that most of NoVa already allows optional masking in daycares, which we are fighting for here in D.C. and MoCo.

We do, thank God, but I would love a reprieve from 14-day quarantines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Advocating for better policies is my current coping mechanism.

A group of us in the area is advocating for updating COVID-19 daycare policies to decrease the crushing quarantine burden and enable optional masking for children. Please see below for our advocacy guides and petition.

Montgomery County daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/yd2jr5pu

DC daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/57sapzjy

Petition: https://chng.it/vTzRTQKGHf

Y'all should consider NoVa advocacy too!

Yes I'm sorry we haven't done so yet! But it shouldn't be difficult to locate the appropriate NoVa public officials and make the same case to them. Also, my understanding is that most of NoVa already allows optional masking in daycares, which we are fighting for here in D.C. and MoCo.

I am right there with you. And my kids are slightly older but cabin fever and COVID exhaustion is real. I am also a single parent and I can't do it all--work and care for my kids who have had no routine for 3 weeks straight now. It's just too much.

Get some parenting help. We never had a real lockdown.

Anonymous wrote:Advocating for better policies is my current coping mechanism.

A group of us in the area is advocating for updating COVID-19 daycare policies to decrease the crushing quarantine burden and enable optional masking for children. Please see below for our advocacy guides and petition.

Montgomery County daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/yd2jr5pu

DC daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/57sapzjy

Petition: https://chng.it/vTzRTQKGHf

Y'all should consider NoVa advocacy too!

Advocating for better policies is my current coping mechanism.

A group of us in the area is advocating for updating COVID-19 daycare policies to decrease the crushing quarantine burden and enable optional masking for children. Please see below for our advocacy guides and petition.

Montgomery County daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/yd2jr5pu

DC daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/57sapzjy

Petition: https://chng.it/vTzRTQKGHf

Yes yes yes. I'm feeling a general low grade panic attack at this situation that is starting to feel a lot like March 2020. We are all vaccinated and boosted, so I'm tired of worrying and just want my life back.

Mom of 3 here, from 4 years to 4 months.
Sympathy to you.
Thankfully I've worked on my gentleness when I realized yelling/being to strict with my 4 yo was not making anything better.
But the part that resonated with me was what you wrote --
"Expecting us to WFH, watch our children, and not have it affect our mental and physical health..."

The thing I'm most angry about is that my health - as a postpartum mom- is what gets downgraded on any priority list---
Have to take time off work to take care of kids unexpectedly home
Balance working FT from home with DH
Have to try to get the kids outside to play for their health, I'll stay in with baby
Babysitters are over booked/ stuck dealing with quarantined roommates/ not able to drive in snow / have their own kids home from school

So I have finally just accepted that my physical health is going to stay down the drain for a while. FORGET ABOUT losing "baby weight." We're lucky I have hot dogs heated for dinner.

Some days I am so exhausted of it all.

A week ago I had actually planned a date with my husband for this Saturday, of course had to cancel that due to all the unpredictability with babysitters listed above.

Looking forward to some sense of normalcy. When I can go out for some aerobic exercise by myself. When we can plan for our kids to actually be in school. When I can finally have a relationship with my dear husband again (I could not do this without him - he is so strong.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accept more Covid risk. I had my mom come stay with us during lockdown and yes, it was more Covid risk in the household but I chose not to care because it also brought more sanity. Bring in a babysitter or nanny for backup care, depending on your needs.

This is easier said than done during a huge snowstorm!

I'm not saying do it right this minute, but have a few people you can call in a daycare/school closure situation

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help me re-set. I had off for 2 weeks for winter break so kept the kids out of daycare so we could see family. Figured everybody would be back in school/daycare on Monday but of course the storm has hit and we are all stuck inside together. It is giving me flashbacks from lockdown in March 2020. I was in a horrible place and was screaming at my kids non-stop and needed to go on meds and start therapy. How do I not go back down that deep dark rabbit hole? I am working full time, as is my husband, and we have 3 kids at home who are sick and tired of being together. It is non-stop yelling. I feel horrible.

So is everyone else in this area and, yet, somehow we manage. I suggest you get your act together as you are an adult and, as such, step up and take care of the curve balls life throws at us WITHOUT COMPLAINING. You and your husband are employed, have ample money, the necessities and, probably, a great many of the luxuries the world has to offer. I am so sick of people like you and your incessant whining and complaining.

So apparently this is this person‘s way of mitigating their stress. being a deep deep deep a hole online. Awesome. Really hope they don’t have children.

Anonymous wrote:Help me re-set. I had off for 2 weeks for winter break so kept the kids out of daycare so we could see family. Figured everybody would be back in school/daycare on Monday but of course the storm has hit and we are all stuck inside together. It is giving me flashbacks from lockdown in March 2020. I was in a horrible place and was screaming at my kids non-stop and needed to go on meds and start therapy. How do I not go back down that deep dark rabbit hole? I am working full time, as is my husband, and we have 3 kids at home who are sick and tired of being together. It is non-stop yelling. I feel horrible.

So is everyone else in this area and, yet, somehow we manage. I suggest you get your act together as you are an adult and, as such, step up and take care of the curve balls life throws at us WITHOUT COMPLAINING. You and your husband are employed, have ample money, the necessities and, probably, a great many of the luxuries the world has to offer. I am so sick of people like you and your incessant whining and complaining.

Anonymous wrote:Accept more Covid risk. I had my mom come stay with us during lockdown and yes, it was more Covid risk in the household but I chose not to care because it also brought more sanity. Bring in a babysitter or nanny for backup care, depending on your needs.

This is easier said than done during a huge snowstorm!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accept more Covid risk. I had my mom come stay with us during lockdown and yes, it was more Covid risk in the household but I chose not to care because it also brought more sanity. Bring in a babysitter or nanny for backup care, depending on your needs.

NP, but we have had lots of issues with sitters needing to cancel over the last few months due to illness/exposure. It’s not a panacea and adds to the uncertainty/stress.

This and also with potential snow days. I work in person and my babysitter says she hasn’t decided if she’s coming this week or not. So each day I have to find back up care that may or may not be able to come. The structures we had in place are not functioning.

I’m so sorry everyone is having to deal with this. and unless you have buckets of money it’s really hard right now.

Anonymous wrote:Op here - thanks to the nice previous posters. I just feel like parenting is 10000 times harder now than it used to be. We don’t have any break from work and expected to work and take care of our kids perfectly and it shouldn’t affect our mental or physical health. I don’t know how to keep going. I feel like I am going to break.

I know. You are not alone. My kids are so sick of each other and are wondering if their life will ever be normal again. I’m exhausted and not getting my work done and same for husband. All my reserves are used up and I alternate between feeling terrible for my kids (who clearly also have PTSD) and feeling like some one needs to help ME because I’m going to have a literal break down. My therapist and my kids therapist have both canceled on us due to COVID and frankly living with this type of uncertainty is very hard regardless of meds and support.

I just try over and over to not yell. Don’t give up because you yelled once. Keep trying. And apologize and owing when you make a mistake

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accept more Covid risk. I had my mom come stay with us during lockdown and yes, it was more Covid risk in the household but I chose not to care because it also brought more sanity. Bring in a babysitter or nanny for backup care, depending on your needs.

NP, but we have had lots of issues with sitters needing to cancel over the last few months due to illness/exposure. It’s not a panacea and adds to the uncertainty/stress.

Have a rotation. I've had sitters and nannies call in sick too but if you have a list of several it can mitigate the problem. It's not a panacea but for me, it reduces the stress considerably; I could map on a graph the stress levels going down once we got a part-time sitter.