UNSOCIAL DISTANCING

This week we navigated a new issue in the COVID era - how to interact with friends while staying safe.

Cate is very close friends with three boys in a family across the street, including one of her classmates. In normal times, they spend most days playing together outside. However, COVID put a dramatic end to those activities.

In recent weeks, the kids had been doing social distancing bike rides. Slowly, we noticed that the distance was shrinking and that the kids were often right next to each other. We talked with Cate about this, but she assured us that they would be more careful.

However, we noticed that the physicial proximity continued to be a "problem." I put that last word in quotes because these children were doing nothing abnormal, but they were behaving in a pre-COVID way. Ultimately, we talked to Cate about the need to wear a mask outside around them. This upset her quite a bit understandably. Despite trying to reason with her, Cate remained quite upset. Kathleen decided to talk to the other family, and they, too, expressed their concerns about the lack of social distancing. Ultimately, we decided that the kids could only play together for now if they were on opposite sides of the street.

Today, there was lots of remote control car racing with kids stationed in camp chairs across the street. Though there were a few crashes, there were no complaints.

I cannot wait for this pandemic to end. Things like being close to others, touching, being physical may not be necessary, but they sure are sustaining. We'll get there. Until then, we'll be safe.