RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This week we're hearing from parents who are trying to manage child care during the pandemic. Across the country, schools have launched online curriculums and distance learning programs. But some parents say their children are not engaging with these programs. That includes Meghan Laslocky (ph) of Oakland, Calif.
MEGHAN LASLOCKY: We've had crying. We've had curled up on the sofa in fetal position. And to see your kid in that kind of pain and frustration is just ridiculous.
MARTIN: Laslocky runs a consulting business from home, and that started to pick up recently.
LASLOCKY: I needed to be on Zoom calls, and I needed to respond quickly to some deadlines and so on. And meanwhile, my kid is completely imploding over Google Classroom.
MARTIN: Sounds familiar.
After three days, Laslocky scrapped the school's distance learning and created her own curriculum for her 11-year-old.
LASLOCKY: So he has a Spanish app. He enjoys reading. We decided to do a passion project working in our garden. But I think a really big part of it is stepping away from the devices.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Oh, yeah. Let's hear another voice - Liz Self, who is an assistant professor at Vanderbilt's college of education. She says the voluntary work being sent from her kids' school was not engaging them at the same time that she was trying to teach her own class online.
LIZ SELF: Yesterday afternoon, I had a class. I had - my 9-year-old is a gymnast, so she's supposed to be doing conditioning at home, so I sat in the backyard. She was having a complete meltdown while I'm trying to hold a class called Designed to Disrupt (laughter). I had my 11-year-old out shooting arrows - blunt, nonlethal. And I believe at that time the 7-year-old was, like, beating a bush. And there are definitely those moments where I just think to myself, like, what am I doing?
MARTIN: Self supports parents who say they need to create their own plan.
SELF: Parents should remember that they know what's going on with their child better than anyone.
INSKEEP: The view of a professor informed by her own experience as a parent.
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