I’m exhausted from a year of fighting with my kids over schoolwork, and I’m finished.
My 7-year-old and I were in our typical asynchronous day struggle. I had his writing assignment from school. He’d written great sentences for his teacher.
But he wouldn’t do the same for me, always putting up a fight.
I told him he didn’t have to write about his best day, he could write about anything as long as he wrote a few sentences.
He said he’d get in trouble. He said he was failing first grade. He was about to cry, but didn’t know why.
And then it clicked.
Instead of getting angry and pushing the assignment, I sat with him in his superhero room.
I told him he wouldn’t get in trouble, and he couldn’t fail first grade. In fact, he was kind of a superhero himself.
He sat up straighter and looked at me in disbelief.
I said, “No kids ever have had to do what you’re doing right now. No kids have ever had to do school at home, watching their teacher on a computer. You and your friends are making history.”
A weight lifted from his seven-year-old shoulders. “What does that mean?”
I told him it means I haven’t given him enough credit for adapting. I told him how proud I am of him and his friends. That these kids are doing the impossible and doing a great job.
I apologized for not saying it sooner. A tear fell down his cheek.
We’ve thanked everyone, but we haven’t thanked the kids enough for dealing with everything this year.
We say kids are resilient, and they are. But they are the real superheroes in this because they had no say in their lives but are still adjusting every day.
We closed his laptop and played for the rest of the day. This was supposed to be temporary, and we’re still struggling a year later.
This is our home, and I won’t let school turn it into a battlefield anymore over something we can’t control. Something that no longer makes sense.
Hug your little superheroes today and remember to give them the same grace we’ve given everyone else.