Kids have good reason to think adults don’t know what they’re doing


It’s no wonder our kids doubt every word we say. Adults have not given them good reason to trust us throughout the last two years, and the latest repeal of mask mandates isn’t helping.

Our school is apparently dropping indoor mask mandates soon – the rumor is that it’ll be in a week or so. 

And when I told my son this, I was excited, I can only describe the look he gave me as a “oh HELL no” look. 

And I explained to him – again – that he’s vaccinated. That the Omicron variant isn’t as bad as the previous variants. That infection rates are way down in our county. That it’ll all be ok soon.

Yeah, he said. That’s what you said last time. And I have to say, the kid has a point. 

Remember summer 2020, when there was like five seconds when we all started to re-emerge into the world… and then all ran back inside as quickly as we could?

And then there was summer 2021, which was supposed to be, like, hot girl summer or the Roaring 20s are back baby, or something like that?

And then Omicron happened. And….honestly, I can’t even keep the sequence of events straight in my own head – It feels like anything from March 2020 on is this big featureless blob of year. 

So I get why my son is wary when I say to him, “No it’s OK. You can take off your mask indoors.”

According to him, the adults in the room don’t know what they’re doing.

As parents, we walk a fine line between wanting to keep our kids safe and encouraging them to spread their wings and leave the nest. And if we, as parents, are conflicted about this type of back and forth, imagine how our kids feel! The fact is they don’t feel safe because their short histories have told them they might not be, especially when it comes to social interaction.

And we can’t continue to teach them  – as we have been these past couple of years – to be fearful of human connection – and, yes, a big part of human connection involves the ability to see each other’s faces. To know if someone’s smiling or frowning, and for children, part of learning how to be an empathetic human being involves learning how to attune themselves to those tiny indications of emotion on another child’s face.