Anonymous wrote:The weather here is not often so cold that kids can't play outdoors. We are going to stick to that as much as possible.

I am comfortable with outdoor playdates with my one friend whose family is following similar rules as we are. But DH is not and our rule with this thing is that the most restrictive person wins the day so..

Meant to say "indoor" in the last paragraph.

The weather here is not often so cold that kids can't play outdoors. We are going to stick to that as much as possible.

I am comfortable with outdoor playdates with my one friend whose family is following similar rules as we are. But DH is not and our rule with this thing is that the most restrictive person wins the day so..

Anonymous wrote:I think pods are opportunities to spread. I am not unsympathetic but they do not work. The only thing you can control is your nuclear family ie people living with you so it could be relatives or friends or whatever but a small number and you are in your same house. We have been really strict about this and it stinks but we are actually also enjoying a nice closeness with teens who would have never been around so nice for us but maybe not the kids. I am hoping spring will bring better health for everyone. Please reconsider any sort of pod.

Glad you are able to do this but my kids go to day care and have been this whole time. Pretty much everyone I know with small children has some type of childcare arrangement.

We will continue with outdoor playdates. Nothing indoors. I don't mind bundling up with the kids and being outside in the winter and there are a few families in our circle who feel the same way. As long as it's not raining (winter rain is the worst), we'll be outside as much as we can.

I think pods are opportunities to spread. I am not unsympathetic but they do not work. The only thing you can control is your nuclear family ie people living with you so it could be relatives or friends or whatever but a small number and you are in your same house. We have been really strict about this and it stinks but we are actually also enjoying a nice closeness with teens who would have never been around so nice for us but maybe not the kids. I am hoping spring will bring better health for everyone. Please reconsider any sort of pod.

We aren't socializing indoors with anyone, including grandparents and aunts and uncles.

We are doing a lot outdoors still. My kids are doing their sports which seem safe with the precautions and extra protocols in place, and we are sitting around the firepits on weekend evenings with neighbors.

I'm sure once it gets colder it will be a bummer, but I think if we can just suck it up from December to early March, we will be through the worst. Spring and summer and fall will be outdoors again, and by next November, I think we'll have turned the corner. There will probably at least one vaccine starting to make the rounds, and we might have more access to good quality rapid tests for people to be able to gather in small groups inside.

Our kids are in school full-time. They are masked at school unless eating or drinking, when they are always distanced by at least 10 feet and usually also outside.

We have been doing outdoor, masked playdates where we don't worry about the kids getting close to each other as that is the same/less risky as what they are doing at school.

We will continue with outdoor only unless their school goes remote, in which case we have discussed creating a pod with one other family that has kids the same ages as ours. If we do that, we would only be seeing them and we'd probably go to unmasked indoors and out.