What It's Really Like For Working Parents At Home With Kids During Pandemic
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - While school is just starting for students at Fort Worth ISD, Dallas ISD and other districts, thousands of North Texas families have already spent weeks juggling school and work at home.
CBS 11 asked some of those parents to document their experiences.
Megan Price began recording her journey on August 18, the night before virtual instruction began at Richardson ISD.
Her son, Wyatt, is a kindergartener this year. "I know I would still be emotion but.. I am mourning a little bit," Price said when talking about the "firsts" she was missing. There was no lunch to pack or walk to the classroom, just a stream of days sitting in front of a tablet.
Wyatt's desk is positioned between his parents' work spaces in the office of the family's home.
Each morning his teacher holds a virtual meeting to connect with all 16 students in her class.
Price says Wyatt is excited for the meetings but engaging is difficult.
"Wyatt's personality is very quiet and shy, and I think he can get lost in a Zoom setting."
Afterwards it's up to Price and her husband to keep the 5-year-old on track the rest of the day. They use a schedule provided by his teacher. "We pretty much stick to it because it gives us pockets of time to focus on work while he has breaks," said Megan. "But even while he's working, I have to do work in what feels like ten-minute increments."
She says the constant back-and-forth is exhausting. After the first day of school she was in bed before 9:00 p.m. "It was a lot. It was a full-time job on top of my other full-time job."
Price and her husband began to "tag team" as teachers, trading off between their jobs as a financial advisor and software engineer. "We both have meetings and somethings they're last minute and so we have to be in constant communication."
And while she doesn't like it, sometimes that means a little more screen time for Wyatt.
"Which previously would have been hard for me to do but not it's just those types of moments of grace I have to give myself."
Price hopes everyone will share - and receive - those moments of grace.
"I really hope that parents have so much understanding for teachers and what they have gone through," she said. "I hope that teachers and administrators know that it's hard for [parents] at home. But if we can just have patience and grace on both sides, it just is a lot smoother."