The Covid reminders we give to children every morning.

The Covid reminders we give to children every morning

because their lives depend on them!

School has recently started, and the pandemic again overshadowed it. Yet another Covid-School-Year. I will spare you the details of what that entails as we have all experienced this pandemic together, on a global scale. How we experience this new academic year will probably be similar, albeit with some variations. There are common themes to this story that we can all relate to and we probably have similar morning and after-school routines. Today, I would like to reflect on how we send off our children to school. But before that, let’s examine what led me to change my routine. The before and, hopefully, after, so to speak.

Anxiety sets in…

As the first day of school approached, my stress levels grew from their regular, healthy-for-me “I worry about pretty much everything” to an “I can’t sleep at night thinking of everything that can go wrong” level. Faith and information collided night after night. I alternated (and continue to alternate) between “Everything is in God’s hands” to “What if…” and I can generate a very lengthy list of “what ifs.” What if there is a positive case in my son’s classroom? What if the class has to shut down and we return to online schooling (and all the challenges that come with virtual learning)?. I will spare you the rest of my rather imaginative what-ifs.

10 Commandments – the Sequel.

AKA: The Covid reminders we give to children every morning.

On the eve of the first day of school, I started an indoctrination regimen for my son; repetition makes perfect, they say. I repeated the guidelines that he would have to follow the next day, and every day after that, for as long as in-class learning lasts.

Don’t hug anyone!
Don’t high-five anyone!
Don’t share food with anyone!!!
Don’t share masks with anyone!!!!!!
Don’t remove your mask while in the corridors (school guidelines)!
Don’t play tag!!!

He promised to follow all the rules and that he would be careful. I convinced myself that he would. I needed to.

Like a broken record, I repeated the same guidelines in the morning, our new soundtrack for this school year. I emphasized this rendition by reminding him that those guidelines are crucial, that his life depended on him following them. Yes, I can be dramatic, you hadn’t noticed?

Mission Critical

His life depends on following those rules….

That is why I am repeating them.

The Covid reminders we give to children every morning are critically important.

So, I will continue to repeat them every morning.

Because his life depends on them.

I feel like I am forgetting something…

Eternal Life

What about his eternal life?

Why am I not repeating the guidelines for gaining eternal life? Every day?

Why am I only obsessively concerned about his earthly life?

Shouldn’t I also be reminding him of his Christian duties and priorities every morning as I recite the health and safety guidelines? Shouldn’t my reminders include:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself” Matt.22: 37-39.
“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16
“But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matt. 6:33.
Don’t judge others!
Never deny our Lord!!!!
Obey God’s commandments!!!!!!!!
Read your Bible, pray for others, sing songs of praise!

Clearly, I need to rearrange my priorities.

So I started including spiritual reminders along with the health and safety ones. The soundtrack now includes reminders to preserve his spiritual health instead of just his physical one.

In Christ,

Mireille

Other articles you might enjoy: Teaching Children About Gratitude

Recommended Children’s Book on this topic: Philo and the Faithfulness SuperHoly

*A version of this article was first published on Coptic News: His Life Depends on Them*

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