My 15-year-old daughter spent part of her winter break studying for final exams, as her semester concludes the third week of January. She gave herself one week of complete relaxation before she begrudgingly opened the biology book and began sketch-noting a few chapters. It wasn’t much of a break.

Not only that, she returned to school just as the omicron surge began to take off in Los Angeles. Armed with a KN95 mask on her face and all the good-smelling hand sanitizer Bath & Body Works has to offer stashed in her backpack, she put on her brave face and returned to school. Three days in, she commented that school feels like an endless game of covid musical chairs, with a couple of students disappearing each day. And then came the substitute teachers.

Keywords - Parenting