Think of the kids ... and their parents

It's something we do most of the time anyway, and we certainly did during the chaos, confusion and uncertainty of our first lockdown last year.

But back then, parents weren't worried about their children catching Covid.

Back then, it was more about keeping themselves calm, keeping the kids calm, managing homeschooling in good spirits, and seeing out the days without going crazy.

Last year's lockdown was mercifully quick, at least in relation to schools.

Closing the schools felt, to many, like the most dramatic and serious act as the pandemic closed in.

The time spent at home, often as a family together for the days on end in a time unlike any other, was for some strangely comforting, and today feels nostalgic.

Sending the kids back to school a couple of months later, even as many of us were still working from home, seemed like the most sane and sensible thing to do.

Even with all the new measures in place - things that are now part of everyday life, like screen-based parent-teacher sessions and lots of hand sanitiser - school gave Canberra's community at large a sense of normality.

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This time around, it's quite a different story.

It's the kids - teens and younger children both - who are now at risk of catching the new Covid strain.

Now, families are watching helplessly as sports seasons are being cancelled, extra-curriculars put on hold, and school formals more than likely on the chopping block.

For high school, exams are in doubt, and end-of-year celebrations for year 12s may well not happen at all.

Teachers are scrambling to put into place the home learning plans they may well have imagined had been shelved for some time last year.

It's equally tough for parents having to absorb these blows and explain to their children why daily life is once again being curtailed.

Last year, we spent the early months of the pandemic, especially when we were in lockdown, worrying about grandparents and older people, who appeared the most vulnerable.

Now, parents are still keeping their children away from grandparents and older carers, but for different reasons.

And then there's the tension of constant vigilance of the growing list of Canberra's exposure sites, alert to the possibility of needing to quarantine at short notice.

Parents, like everyone else, are doing it tough, and we should spare a thought for them as much as the kids.

Homeschooling, while slightly more drearily familiar this time around, is still jarring, an extra pressure in a time of vigilance.

And this time, there's no definite end point to homeschooling.

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ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry has forewarned - sensibly, it must be said - that even if things go well for Canberra, going back to school may not be at all straightforward.

"It takes time to transition, and getting organised for children to be back in the classroom takes a bit of management and coordination, and it depends on how the community is going," she said.

It's a cause for anxiety, but many across the country have been dealing with homeschooling for much longer periods.

But it's the lack of certainty - and that word "indefinite" - that many are feeling this week.

We should think of the kids, parents and teachers navigating their way once again through a new normal.

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