Community for Caregivers

As we roll into May, a month when everyone is abuzz in American media with love for mothers and Mother’s Day, let’s acknowledge all the ways that parents, teachers, and caregivers have been struggling with a lack of their usual (and even then often insufficient) community and family support in the past year. Staggering numbers of women have left the workforce to care for their children while schools and daycares have been closed for the pandemic. The individualist parenting philosophies that dominate our national discourse have left parents of all kinds adrift, playing out the conflict between safety and the economy on the home front. Teachers have been expected to reinvent their jobs on the fly, often while parenting and working from home. Those who care for the young ones among us deserve so much better from our nation and every community. Let’s see how we can help. This challenge offers a chance to build a more resilient community for the parents and caregivers in our lives.

Habit:

Thank a caregiver

To Do:

Write a thoughtful note of thanks to a parent, teacher, or caregiver

Give a gift of support to a parent, teacher, or caregiver (offer childcare if it’s safe for you, give a gift card to a local eatery so they can take a break from cooking, send activities for the kids or things that might help the adults relax and recharge) 

Have compassion for a struggling parent, teacher or caregiver (even if it’s you!) Be friendly and kind to the parents dealing with a kid’s public meltdown. Offer extra napkins in the restaurant. Think about what you can do to help and support, not judge and report.

Reflection:

I have to admit, I was disappointed by the low uptake on this challenge. Maybe it was less appealing to my guildmembers and the Habitica community as a whole because it wasn’t focused so much on self improvement as on giving. Personally, after all these months of pandemic caring, I used it more as a source of self-compassion than anything else… though I certainly did take the opportunity to celebrate the remote teachers who were involved in our year.