How Do You Explain?

The world is changing. Everything is changing. Adults are struggling. Finances are struggling. People are going stir crazy. Then, we have our kids. They are growing up in the middle of this change. How do you tell a kid? How will they understand?

I sit here, in my bathroom, crying as I type this. My son loved school. He was excited every morning. He loved his friends, his teacher, his routine. He is 4 and he was getting use to his 1st year out in the world without me. He is loving. He gives the best hugs. He is a listener. His teacher always praised how hard he worked.

Now everything has changed. He can only see his friends (the ones that can log on) through a computer screen. He has to do his daily work while his little sister and cousin run around his chair. He isn't allowed to hug and kiss his family members the way he grew up doing. All of this happened to him in an instant. His little world flipped upside down.

He's been acting out. He loses his temper more easily. He cries more easily. He has started to say his school work is "boring ". I have come to realize that no matter how many art projects we do, no matter how many cakes we bake or songs we sing...he is still struggling.

I can't make him understand. Some adults are still struggling to understand. All I can do is show him that, throughout all the change, I am still there. I have to breathe through the tantrums and know that his emotions may be too big for his body. I have to hug him and remind him that I love him.

All of this will be a distant memory for him one day. I can only hope it is a positive one. We will get through this. One breath, one hug, one kiss at a time.