As I watched my son at the park today a real cost of COVID hit home. Used to take him 30 seconds to make a new friend and then hammer down playing. I watched him struggle for 15 minutes to figure out what to do before coming over to me and asking to swing by himself. 1/

Then as we were swinging another child came up and asked if he could swing with us. Now I was on edge, was a parent going to lose their mind if I helped the boy into the swing next to mine? Am I supposed to tell a small child to pound sand or should I help another child play? 2/

Our family was very cautious at the outset and we still wear our masks, seemingly bathe in sanitizer, and have stayed in our rural area. We will keep doing that because it really is no hardship to do so and simple steps like this help slow viral spread 3/

We are heading into a period where case load will inevitably head up and we need to reorganize our priorities. My son was not the only confused child today, kids are forgetting how to be kids in front of our eyes and the parents trying to plot the right course are exhausted 4/

There’s no wisdom here, just an exhausted Dad who’s increasingly worried about the coming months. The worry isn’t getting COVID, the worry is that in spite of the incredibly low mortality rate society’s fear of death will drive another lockdown and children will suffer immensely