As a mother, I know better than you. In fact, I know better than most people. Giving birth provided me with an insight that all the fathers and non-mothers will never know, and mothers of adult children are unable to remember.
For the first time since the spring of 2020, students attending our Prince William County Public Schools will now have the choice of whether or not to wear a mask in the classroom. Though many parents and children are happy to return to a little bit of normalcy thanks to the COVID-19 numbers finally dwindling, as an inciteful mom who knows better than our doctors and educators, I am less than thrilled about yet another new normal. I can’t speak for other moms, however, because there is just no way their little ones are as perfect as my Jaden.
It has been almost two years since kids were sent home from school to learn virtually. Attending classes from a laptop computer in our home became our new normal. By the time my little Jaden got used to online school, the classrooms were open once again so long as the children wore masks. This created a new new normal. It was terribly hard for my Jaden to adjust to the exact same thing he had been doing his whole life except now with a mask.
After doubling his meds, Jaden finally got to a place in his life where he was comfortable wearing a mask, and now our school board is saying that masks are optional. I have absolutely no idea how I am going to explain this new new new normal to poor Jaden.
As one of many concerned parents in Prince William County, I ask you this: When will it stop? What are you going to do to my poor baby next, Superintendent LaTanya McDade? Can I expect him to come home tomorrow and tell me that shoes are now optional, and now he has to adjust to a new new new new normal? And what about next week? Will you decide that pants will be optional, too? Because if you are going to ask me to subject my precious Jaden to a new new new new new normal, then so help me, I will have to give some serious consideration to homeschooling. Honestly, the only thing that is preventing me from keeping Jaders home is that I don’t want to create yet another new new new new new new normal.
I understand that those people who run our schools have dedicated their entire lives to ensuring that the children of this county receive the finest education. However, I do not care about the children of this county. I care about my wittle Jaden-poo. Therefore, please consider this piece my personal charge to Superintendent McDade: Stop making changes to public education just because you are trying to do what is best for other people’s kids. It is time that you started to do what is best for my kid.
