What would happen if suddenly, tomorrow, COVID-19 would disappear? We wake up to find our air germ-free and no vaccine needed. Life as we once knew it resumes.   

Or does it? I imagine people slowly emerging from their places of shelter after a hurricane. They can see trees that crashed through homes and homes that remain undamaged; cars submerged in water, while some are in perfect condition.  

That’s how I picture a post-coronavirus world: Nothing quite the same, some damage to assess and some miracles to be grateful for. 

Let’s check out the children first, since they are always our main concern. We find a level of anxiety permeating their emotional world.  

Family dynamics are different now: For children in stable homes, life has come to mean being with parents 24/7, bonding with siblings and having more of their parents’ time and attention. For some children, unfortunately, the inability to escape family dysfunction has taken a serious toll on their mental health.   

Certainly, all the children were missing the personal connection to their teacher, the welcoming smile, the encouraging look: none of these came across the Zoom screen.   

Using Zoom for instruction took more preparation and more energy. Teachers couldn’t allow for the usual and important classroom give and take, because a focus on one child usually meant losing the rest of the class.   

And how about the education process itself? Initial studies indicate that the children simply did not accomplish as much as they would have in a structured classroom environment. As did their teachers!  

Some teachers are leaving their positions, unwilling to spend another six months or more on Zoom. They feel they cannot maintain the natural connection that they usually develop with their students, especially the children who need the extra bit of attention and support. 

At the same time, they found out that it feels really good to be home with their children. We may lose a percentage of our most valuable educational assets: Our hardworking, expert teachers. 

Parents have discovered how difficult it is to be a teacher and how each and every day, teachers work miracles with the school children. Now that they’ve spent months supervising the children and being a part of the school day, parents have new-found respect and appreciation for the creativity, preparation and concentration that go into each hour of teaching in order to help children develop intellectually, emotionally and socially.   

When we consider that the LOWEST annual salary a major league baseball player earns is $563,500 (top is around $30 million), we realize how society’s priorities are truly topsy-turvy! 

Parents themselves have been living with anxiety for these past months that are not related to health issues only. They have to make decisions for themselves and their family when information changes daily, sometimes even two or three times on the same day.   

They don’t know what’s best for their children: Let them play with a neighbor child for social reasons, or is that too risky? Send the children back to school, or is THAT too risky? And try as they might to prevent this, their children sense the uncertainty. 

We can use these times to update our relationship skills. Online and telephone classes have proliferated during these times, and they’ve eliminated the need to leave home, find a babysitter and search for a parking space.   

Take a one-hour webinar on communication or a six-session series on understanding your child. Keep to family routines as much as possible and create some new family rituals for bedtime or Shabbat.   

The hurricane will pass; the effects will be assessed. We will use all our skills to stay resilient, keep connected to each other, and know that we can handle whatever comes our way!