They Are Going to Ask You

At some point in the future, your kids and your grandkids are going to ask you. They’re going to say: Dad, when there were 200,000 cases and 2,000 deaths a day in America during the pandemic, what were doing? 

You’re going to have to answer: Well, we kept sending you to school on the bus. “Oh, but the schools took all sorts of precautions, right?” Well, sort of, you’ll say. They were open so we sent you. “Did you socially distance and stay at home?” they’ll ask. Yeah, I mean, we did go to the store and stuff. “Like, because you had to?” No, it was just easier than doing curbside. “Was it weird not going to restaurants for so long?” Well, your mom and I did go on some dates. We liked the bar down the street and didn’t want them to close. “Did we cancel Thanksgiving and Christmas?” We thought about it, but you know, we thought the holidays just wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t all travel to see each other. “So you didn’t take it seriously?” Well, we did at first, but it went on for a long time and we kinda just got tired of it… 

They are going to look at you like you are a thoughtless moron. Because you will have been one. Of course, there have been many failures of leadership during this pandemic—across parties, across states, across countries and cities. There have been hypocrites and overreactions. There have been mistakes and there have been unknowns.

Most of that was not in your control. What is in our control as parents is what we do. What’s up to us are the choices we make—the leadership we exert in our own families. Are some of us in different boats, with different levels of optionality? Of course. No judgement should be passed on those who have no choices. But most of the dumb things we’re doing—that you’re doing—were not done out of necessity. Instead, laziness, wishful thinking, denial, fatigue, foolishness won out.

The future will judge you for it. So make the right decision now. For your kids. For yourself.

P.S. This was originally sent on December 15, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Dad’s email and get our popular 11 page eBook, “20 Things Great Dads Do Everyday.”

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