![]() One of my favorite movies is Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out, where they show that those uncomfortable feelings like sadness need to be felt and expressed just like joy. It’s how you express them.” That is easier said than done.this process of understanding how we feel, why we feel that way, and then embracing that vulnerability to let ourselves actually feel. I used to have a poster in my office that said, “All feelings are OK. It is hard enough for adults to process all that is occurring in the world today, but it can be even more challenging for children who were not always exposed to all of the facts about the pandemic and may not have been able to fully process this event. What initially started out as an abrupt change to our entire way of living has now turned into somewhat of a rollercoaster of continuous adjustments that we can somewhat anticipate based on case numbers, vaccine rollouts, and quarantines. Whether it was avoiding the reality, not processing all that was happening, or enjoying a new and unfamiliar experience of attending school in the dining room.whatever it was, she finally reached a point when those feelings came out and could be expressed.Īnd now, here we are, almost a year into this pandemic. I would get comments as to how well she had adjusted to homeschool life and how she was always just so happy despite the world being in chaos. My daily emotional check-in with her, which sometimes was direct and other times more indirect through play, always received the “I’m fine, Mommy” type of response. It was 20 minutes that people on this random side street heard a little girl crying, sobbing, and stomping her feet before getting up and hugging me, getting back on her bike, and riding home.Īs a licensed social worker, one who had worked in the elementary school setting for several years, I had been waiting for this moment. “I hate Zoom and having school through my iPad.” “I miss Ama” (her great-grandmother). It was one of those cathartic cries – where one small event triggered a downpour of tears and verbalization of feelings and emotions that had previously gone unsaid. There we were – at the time, 70 days and counting since life as we knew it was put on pause – and my child finally cried about the coronavirus. Her friend was able to come out, but unlike their play dates not long ago, the interaction consisted of a wave and a 5-minute chat with a lot of laughing while standing six feet apart.Īs we began the ride back home, the tears started, followed by getting off of her bright pink bike, sitting on the hot sidewalk, and putting her head between her knees as I heard the sobbing begin. We had just ridden past her best friend’s house – the bike rides have become a ritual for us in this age of social distancing. The words uttered from the mouth of my 7-year-old as we were out for a bike ride.
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