The View from the Hermitage, Day 11

The "Local Living" section of today's Washington Post has several columns or questions about helping kids cope with anxiety over the way things are right now. I'm not sure how the sons would have reacted had we gone through something like this when they were little. I know we would have explained it to them as truthfully as possible. We would have let them watch the news with us. We would not have censored the information.

I was something of a pariah among preschool parents in 1990 when Operation Desert Storm began. As noted above, the sons watched the nightly news with us, and we answered their questions factually. Older son took the information he had learned and was explaining troop movements to his preschool classmates, none of whom had any idea there was a mini-war going on. Some became quite anxious according to their parents, and it was my fault for letting my son know what was going on.

Children not old enough to understand the details about something mirror their parents' attitudes toward that something. They learn by doing or feeling what they see the adults they know best doing or feeling. Older son was not anxious about Operation Desert Storm because the husband and I were not anxious. We did not hide our concern from him, but it was certainly not the end of the world. I am not sure that would be the case with the current pandemic. I do know that I would have been less nervous about things then than I am now, almost 30 years later. My asthma would still have put me in a higher risk group, but I would have had a much younger age to put in the plus column. And I am less anxious now than I might otherwise be because I am following the guidance about social distance and contact. What anxiety I do feel these days is helping me take the precautions I can after which there's not much else to worry about.

Today's parents may also be handling having their kids home from school for an extended period of time, in a couple of cases for the rest of the academic year. At-home enrichment and reading may be enough for the young ones, but the teenagers in subject-matter classes are a totally different matter. Teenage me would probably be fine with learning online. My first experience with online instruction was when I was in a sixth grade math class, way back in the late 1960s. In many ways student me enjoyed online, independent learning, but I have been told that I am not normal. I hope that today's students in sequential classes are able to grasp the material that would have been taught in a classroom March through May.

The students in social studies classes such as civics, government, or history are watching a future textbook being written before their eyes. I just hope their possibly pariah parents are letting them watch or read the news.

Random Tidbits

I did not go to the National Book Festival this year, though I did go to Washington, DC on the first day of the festival. Yes, they made the festival a two-day event this year, and it somewhat diminished its attractiveness. There were no authors whose presence demanded mine, or that of my partners in crime for the day. We instead went to the National Zoo and marveled at the now-almost-grown lion cubs interrupting their' sire's nap, the orangutans swinging high above on their O-Line, and the pandas doing what pandas do best, eating bamboo. I would illustrate with photos were they not on a computer two time zones away from where I am right now.

Where I am right now is Montana, Great Falls, Montana, to be exact, the town in which I was born. My stepmother, brother, sister-in-law, and I are here with my Dad, well, with his ashes. Wednesday is the first anniversary of his death, and we plan to scatter a bit of him or perhaps all of him to the Montana winds somewhere in his old hunting grounds along the Missouri River. This may or may not be legal, but that's not something I plan to ask unless I have to. Dad would not have asked, so why should Dad's daughter.

Visiting childhood places well into one's adulthood is a bit disconcerting.

This was the house in which I lived for two-plus years while in elementary school. The trees did not hide the house then, and the yard stretched out forever. The park in which we used to play actually seems about the same size, though there was no jungle gym there 44 years back. Had this been there then, it would have been quite popular. As it was, I managed to have some fun with it even as an adult.
Continuing randomly, the Detroit airport is actually not a bad place in which to kill four hours. While I did not stop to photograph the pedestrian tunnel with its own light and music show, I did spend quite some time shooting this amazing fountain. There are also various shops, including one with headless figures holding Hello Kitties. For some unknown reason, I found this noteworthy.
I did recently finish and gift another quilt. Again, the photos are two time zones away, though you can see one of them here. I'll be starting another one (or two) soon after my return, or so I hope.

I realize that I have been less than faithful about updating this blog. I must admit that in the weeks leading up to this trip I have been fighting something akin to depression or at least an underlying feeling of all not being well. I hope all that was just due to the anticipation of this trip or of the first anniversary of Dad's death. If so, I hope it will stay behind when I return home. I will also try to make my next post here a bit more thought-out or at least better-written than this one has been in the midst of a myriad of distractions and interruptions. My apologies. If you are taking the time to read this, I should try to make it as well written as possible ... just not tonight.