Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add a vitamin D supplement to your diet.

Get out with your kids. This isn’t going anywhere. It’s fine to go out to eat or to a movie. Pick a time when the restaurants and theaters won’t be crowded. There were maybe ten people in the theater the last time we saw a movie.

Living your life in fear is much more harmful than omicron is.

Oh Jesus, stop already with the “living your life in fear” CRAP. Is wearing a seatbelt living your life in fear? Parents of young, unvaccinated children are taking necessary precautions to keep our little kids from getting covid in any mutation. That is living your life as a good parent not living your life in fear.

No one needs to go to the fricking movies or a restaurant. Grow the f up.

You sound very angry. And not at all well. I’m sorry you are struggling.

OP, your anxiety and depression is probably having a much bigger affect on your children than Omicron would. Omicron is not going to be the last of this. At some point, you have to just live your life.

Anonymous wrote:Were you able to find chicken this week?

NP. Plenty of chicken at the North Bethesda Harris Teeter.

Anonymous wrote:It was so restorative to go out to dinner and a movie with a friend last week. We went on a weeknight to a restaurant that wasn’t crowded and wore n95s for the show. I think it’s a mistake to see your isolation rules as absolutes. You can not go out to dinner 99% of the time and still go once because it’s important for your health to have a night out away from your kids (trade with your spouse or get a baby sitter). Exposure is cumulative. It’s not like because you went out one night, the 99 nights you stayed in don’t count. I think that’s a mind trap some people get stuck in.

+100

I’m going to lunch with my one vaccinated kid (due to age). We might bowl tomorrow.

It was so restorative to go out to dinner and a movie with a friend last week. We went on a weeknight to a restaurant that wasn’t crowded and wore n95s for the show. I think it’s a mistake to see your isolation rules as absolutes. You can not go out to dinner 99% of the time and still go once because it’s important for your health to have a night out away from your kids (trade with your spouse or get a baby sitter). Exposure is cumulative. It’s not like because you went out one night, the 99 nights you stayed in don’t count. I think that’s a mind trap some people get stuck in.

Were you able to find chicken this week?

I am going to share something posted on Facebook by a friend of mine who is also a therapist:

Parents of kids under 5 (and over 5): You're not crazy, you're not inadequate, you're not whining. After almost two years of this insanity, there is nothing left in the reserves. Trying to work and parent at the same time (forget about being a partner, a friend, a family member, or even being kind to yourself), is impossible within the structures we live in and yet, we keep doing it. Never has the phrase, "squeezing blood from a stone," felt more appropriate and nearly literal. As I've said over and over to clients, you'll do it because you have to, but it comes at a cost. The world may not respect that cost, but you should at least respect it of yourselves. This comes after nearly an entire week of listening to folks who are on the brink of or drowning in despair. COVID sucks.

Anonymous wrote:Set the table nicely and order in, either with the kids or after they go to bed.

Get coffee you really enjoy and savour it.

Try not to look or plan too far into the future. Focus on what can make your life easier and bring you joy today, or what gets you through this week.

I like this post

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I’m walking uphill through mud every day. Between uncertainty at work (we’ve postponed return 4x), school, childcare, the future, the grocery store (I couldn’t find chicken anywhere last week) and the prolonged social isolation of the pandemic, I’m not coping very well. I’ve stopped drinking, cut back my caffeine, am scaling back my expectations, trying to get outside every day, etc. but it’s not helping. Anyone else? This isn’t depression, it’s just....I don’t even know. I see my single childless friends putting on KN95s (or not) and living their lives but with two unvaccinated kids I just can’t justify the movies, a bar, indoor dining, air travel, window shopping, and everything else I desperately miss.

People will get really judgmental about your choice to isolate or not, but look: it seems like even hardcore countries like e.g. Israel, which has made everyone boost at least once, is giving up and letting people just get omicron... And it looks like boosted people are getting it.


I think that ultimately you have to make a tradeoff. It's bitter cold outside this weekend, but in the 40s you can probably meet someone else for an outdoor fire pit event and let your kids run around with others outdoors in poofy clothes, at the very least.

I don't know what the demographic here on DCUM is, and they may not be that visible to you in your social group, but a lot of moms and families are quietly going out and doing stuff, because the kind of eternal slog is hard and perhaps quite harmful. I know because I've been doing that and meeting them at playgrounds as late as December (on days when it was 50s).

So I think finding something where you trade a small delta in covid risk for a large return on mental health you should do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to go out to dinner, the movies, etc. The risk to you and your kids is extremely low.

This. At this point, you’re extreme in your isolation. Even the people who were completely isolated have by now either traveled or doing play dates or meeting up with people at least outdoors.

We have traveled via car, we are doing occasional outdoor play dates. I’m just struggling with all the increased stress of the uncertain world right now, and normal things just feel harder. Like holiday travel means we have to go via car, changed the baby in the car and did not go into rest stops, kept our bathroom breaks super short since people weren’t masked, do PCR tests, source and bring rapid antigen tests, etc. My BIL is on a COVID unit and as a nurse he’s putting bodies in bags routinely so I don’t feel like my sacrifice is anything compared to that but life just feels hard right now and I lack energy to always plan the outdoor play date and figure out snack/bathroom/weather/other family’s risk tolerance and mask preference, etc etc

Anonymous wrote:You need to go out to dinner, the movies, etc. The risk to you and your kids is extremely low.

This. At this point, you’re extreme in your isolation. Even the people who were completely isolated have by now either traveled or doing play dates or meeting up with people at least outdoors.

I thought window shopping involved looking at windows. Isn’t that outside?

You can rent a theater to yourself as a treat invite people you trust. It’s not that expensive

It is a slog right now, OP. There’s nothing wrong with you! You’re doing the right thing for your little kids and it’s hard.

It will not be forever. Hugs and keep slogging with the rest of us!

Even in the omicron wave, get out and do stuff outside. Winter in DC is not that cold, you can still go for a hike, go outdoors to a brewery with a patio and heaters, etc. See friends outdoors.

I advise trading in a little Covid caution for a little more sanity.

When the Omicron wave ends, get out there and resume life.