Don't be this person.

First, no I did not expect my daughter’s teacher to go to the COVID capital of the country and then not self-quarantine when she got back. I didn’t expect that.

Second, parents have been dealt a terrible hand throughout this entire experience. These months have been filled with decisions that have no good answer. No ideal way to move forward, but we have to make a decision.

So shaming people who picked Bad Option A over Bad Option B is pretty counterproductive and insensitive as hell.

Back in March before the stay at home order I willingly pulled my kids from their daycare center. My daughter had a mild cold symptoms and on the off chance of it being COVID I kept them home thinking it would be temporary. It wasn’t.

So they’ve been home with me since March while I attempted to work my normally stressful job at the legislature that now had the added layer of a politicized global pandemic. Plus over the summer, police brutality and civil unrest. Not an easy time for constituent services.

My husband lost his job in July, so he went back to self-employment as a contractor/carpenter which means irregular and often long hours. Plus the added stress of paying our bills.

By August my mental health was the worst it had been in my entire life and my kids were unhappy. I constantly felt like I wasn’t being a good enough mom to them, wasn’t doing enough at my job, wasn’t being helpful in the campaign, that my house was never clean, the list goes on.

Now I’m dealing with the question of whether I even want to send them back after the quarantine is over.

And guess what again? No good answer.

I’m not saying all this to defend myself to a rude internet stranger (I have nothing to defend) but to remind us all that everyone is enduring some miserable stuff right now. And empathy does a hell of a lot more than shaming.