Parenting and Reading in the Time of Coronavirus
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My two sons and I sit on the black rocking recliner in our living room. The chair is worn, cracked, and on the verge of spilling pieces of foam, but it’s still plenty strong enough to hold three bodies. An 8-year-old on one arm, a 5-year-old on the other, and a 38-year-old in the middle, reading very animatedly from a book called The Black Cauldron — the second book in the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander.
It’s a weird time in the world right now, everything seems to have been turned on its head, but for us, this few minutes shortly after the sun sets has remained unchanged. We read tales of the Assistant Pig Keeper Taran and his noble companions as they struggle to seize and destroy the evil cauldron of the wicked king. Or whatever it is they’re mixed up in at the given moment.
I welcome this half hour of normalcy every night. While my wife is putting our 3-year-old daughter to bed, I read and do funny voices and the boys listen and snack on saltine crackers and we forget how mixed up our days are right now.
We don’t have school or sports or any of our normal activities, but we do have our nightly reading. As I read about the journey the characters in the book are on, I can’t help but draw some very tenuous parallels to our current situation.
A large part of The Black Cauldron plot involves the characters finding the evil cauldron and trying to carry it back to the leader of their group. They face many obstacles along the way like huntsmen of the evil king, terrifying bird creatures, raging rivers, and traitors in their midst.
While they’re in the thick of their journey, they often feel like their mission is pointless and impossible, but when they step back and take a broader view, they realize their effort matters even if they aren’t the ones to complete the task.
There is value in doing a small part. In carrying an evil cauldron through a swamp even if a traitor tries to steal your glory.
Similarly, there is value in our stepping up to the plate and choosing to do almost nothing for the next few weeks or months or how ever long it takes.
Our obstacles aren’t really that great. Specifically, my family’s obstacles aren’t that great. We have a comfortable home. My wife has a good, steady job (if somewhat dangerous at the moment — she’s a nurse). We have plenty of food and entertainment and modern luxuries.
What we don’t have are our normal distractions and outings and schedules. And I’m already beginning to struggle with that even if it’s only been four days. Has it only been four days? How can it only have been four days?
To those of us who have been fortunate enough not to be directly touched by the illness part of this pandemic, I say hang in there and keep up the good fight. By keeping our distance, we are doing our part. And even if it’s hard to grasp right now, it’s important to remember that we are helping others by staying away.
We hoist the cauldron onto our shoulders and carry it as far as we can. In this case, that means sitting inside and watching Frozen 2 for the seven hundredth time. Or listening to Youtubers drone on about Minecraft. Or letting my 5-year-old and 3-year-old coerce me into cooking a dozen eggs in the Perfect Egg Cooker we got at a white elephant gift exchange that took place what feels like seven years ago but was actually just last December.
As parents, we sit and worry about what is to come for our children. We worry about what we’re doing wrong and what we could be doing better. We wonder when the joy of this whole parenting thing might return. Or if it will return before it’s too late. We wonder if seventeen hours of screen time a day is really too much or just the right amount given current circumstances.
We worry and we struggle, but we do our part.
Because the sacrifice is so very little compared to the alternative.
Stay safe and healthy, friends. And stay home as much as you can. We’ll get through this together (but very far apart).
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