“Parents: What we are being asked to do is not humanly possible. There’s a reason we are either a working parent, a stay-at-home parent, or a part-time working parent.

Working, parenting, and teaching are three different jobs that cannot be done at the same time. It’s not hard because you are doing it wrong. It’s hard because it’s too much. Do the best you can.” 

– Dr. Emily W. King, PhD

On March 15, 2020, all schools across South Carolina announced they were closing due to COVID-19. It was then I realized for the unforeseeable future, I needed to figure out not only how to successfully work from home, but also be a parent AND a teacher to my 5-year old daughter, Genevieve. Like many other parents, I searched for resources, printed out the COVID-19 Daily Schedule (which is laughable now) and converted her playroom into an office/classroom. I planned for the week ahead not really knowing what to expect.

The reality? It’s really, REALLY hard.

Truth is, there is no work-life balance. There won’t be right now, and that’s okay. The important thing is we give to our kids what we can. They aren’t going to look back at this time and think “Man, my parents are HORRIBLE teachers.” They’re going to hopefully look back and think about how much fun they had.

So with two weeks under my belt as a work-from-home-parent-teacher, I found out that the S.C. Department of Education had reached out to us here at Chernoff Newman about producing a quick turnaround website that would have digital resources for teachers, parents and students. I was thrilled to be on the team to bring that website to life. Not only am I living the struggles of working from home and playing teacher, I was raised by a teacher. I know first-hand how important it is for teachers to have these resources just as much as parents. Especially during a time where all of us are adapting to our new normal.

To all the parents out there working from home…we hope you find some great resources on the SC Remote Learning website and share it with other parents. Our job right now is extremely hard – but we’re all in this together. Like Dr. Emily W. King said, “Do the best you can.”