This is going to be a different summer for sure.Due to quarantine, my kids have become so accustomed to social isolation they seem content hanging at home most of the time. In pre-pandemic life, we would hear claims of being bored and wanting to do something fun much more often than we do now. In… Read more »

The term “digital detox” has been tossed around a lot of late as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, remote workplaces and digital learning.If current news events allow me, I try my best to take a break each weekend. It’s good for the soul to stay off the laptop and cell phone as much as… Read more »

An open letter to Ocean City Elementary School:Disappointment is not a feeling my family ever felt with Ocean City Elementary School over the last seven years, but it’s exactly how we feel today.We were so looking forward to celebrating Carson’s “graduation” from school this spring. It’s a wonderful achievement for him and our family personally,… Read more »

Beckett finished sixth grade this week. It’s certainly a school year he will never forget.For our 12-year-old kid, life as he knew it came to a screeching halt Thursday, March 12, the night before we were to leave for Universal in Orlando. Pam received a message from her son who is a doctor in New… Read more »

There’s a lot to worry about these days in life, but there’s also plenty to laugh about.For me these last nine weeks I have been obsessed with professional survival. Weathering this health crisis and the subsequent economic disaster with some perspective has been the goal. It can be challenge admittedly because hanging in through these… Read more »

Solo bike rides are one of Beckett’s favorite things of late.Though he’s usually up for company, most of the time he’s hitting the streets by himself because he doesn’t want to wait until the time is right for everyone else.For a couple weeks, our 12-year-old has gone where he said he was going to go… Read more »

When is it okay for kids to hang out with other kids?I’m not talking sleepovers and participating in contact youth sports here, although I look forward to those days in the future. I’m simply seeing some negatives associated with nine weeks of social isolation for my kids for different reasons.As an introvert with Autism, Carson,… Read more »

It’s always fun to watch the reactions from the kids when informed I need their help around the house or out in the yard.Carson, 10, will immediately drop whatever he is doing to lend a hand. No matter what I’m asking him to do, he always initially reacts by making a muscle with his bicep…. Read more »

With lots of time to think these days, I am wondering if pre-virus life with my children will ever return. It’s going to be tough to embrace after all this isolation and simplicity.Of course, there may be no choice here, as it’s going to be sometime before life begins to take on whatever this new… Read more »

One clear positive from weeks of isolation has been a closer relationship with my kids.It’s been amazing to observe over these last five weeks.Though only 18 months apart in age, Beckett, 11, and Carson, 10, are as different as they come. Beckett is extroverted and verbose. Carson is introverted and non-verbal. Beckett could care less… Read more »