The Decision You Make Is The Right Decision

Here we are, August 3, 2020, and we don’t have a firm handle on what school is going to look like for our children in the fall. Parents are feeling a range of emotions from frustration to stress to doubt to trust and acceptance of what will be, will be. What we know for certain is that school is going to look different in the fall of 2020, and parents may have a difficult decision to make in sending, or not sending, their children back to school.

In case you missed it, Dr. Hope Seidel, a pediatrician in North Carolina, shared some thought-provoking advice for parents in a video that has gone viral since it aired on Good Morning America on July 23rd. As we all struggle to figure out the best option for our children regarding school, her advice is simple: Realize that “the decision you make about school is the right decision” and that “each decision is imperfect.” However, she goes on to explain, whatever your final decision, if it ends up not being the right decision, you’ll be a model of flexibility and you’ll adjust, as you always do.

You’ll see in the video’s comments that some folks feel that Dr. Seidel is minimizing the angst many parents are feeling. I take the video for what it is: a reminder that parents are facing difficult choices for the fall with no perfect answer, and we’re all doing the very best we can given the hand we’ve been dealt by this pandemic. I hope you find Dr. Seidel’s advice as helpful as I did.

Dr. Hope Seidel Video