Kids: the superheroes of the pandemic

This week marks one year since schools across the country closed for in-person learning due to Covid. Over the last 12 months, parents have been asked to wear many hats and strike a new balance between being a parent, teacher, coach and friend while also managing the home front and work. For our children it’s been a year unlike any that we could have ever imagined for them. We’ve asked them to be resilient, rule-abiding, and flexible during a time of complete upheaval for them. And though they had very little say in how things unfolded for them, our children have indeed adapted beyond anything adults could have fairly expected. 

In a Facebook post on February 11, 2021, writer Christine Derengowski named our children the “superheroes in this whole scenario.” Her post resonated and was shared more than 727,000 times. She points out that there are certainly many heroes of the pandemic from front line medical professionals, to grocery workers, to delivery drivers. Yet our children, for stepping up and making the best of a difficult situation that was thrust upon them, also deserve significant praise and recognition. 

I appreciate Derengowski’s post simply for the perspective it provides. As she said to her son: “Do you know that no kids in the history of kids have ever had to do what you’re doing right now? No kids in the history of kids have ever had to do school at home, sitting in their bedroom, watching their teacher on a computer. You and your friends are making history.” Indeed they are, and they’ve done it with little complaint, perhaps a few tears, and often with a smile. 

Read Derengowski’s full post.

See the Good Morning America story about the post.