What Social Distancing Has Been Like For Only Children
Since mid-March, Sara Foos, 38, has been at home with her husband and their 6-year-old daughter, Leah. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, the parents take turns overseeing Leah’s remote kindergarten schoolwork and her biweekly class Zoom calls, and playing with her outside so she can get her “wiggles” out.
Often, though, Leah is on her own.
“My husband and I try to make ourselves available to her, but more often than not, we both have appointments at the same time,” said Foos. “That leaves her to fend for herself, and I know she gets bored and lonely.”
Leah has said several times that she wants a sister or brother, unaware that her parents lost a baby in the fall of 2018.
“She just wants to go outside and play and use that very active imagination of hers,” Foos said. “And it gets old to her, doing that all alone.”
Parenting during the pandemic has been a universal challenge. More than 50 million American kids were abruptly yanked from school, and parents haven’t had a moment to themselves since. Similarly, most kids haven’t seen a fellow non-adult in two-plus months — and they’re clinging to anyone they do have. We’re all going a little nuts.
For parents of only children, quarantine or social distancing (or whatever your preferred terminology is for being cooped up together for months on end) has come with a unique set of challenges and benefits.
Less school work to organize and fewer mouths to constantly stuff with snacks ... check! Constant requests from a bored and lonely kiddo to pleeeease join their two-player game ... also check! For the growing number of parents with just one child at home — as for all parents— the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard and complicated, and sometimes wonderful, with no clear end in sight.
My daughter is incredibly lonely. She misses her teachers and her friends, which I’m sure most school-aged kids do, but being an only child adds another layer of difficulty. Katie Goncalves, 32
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