Supporting younger kids in online school is HARD. Alberta's K-6 students have all returned to online schooling this morning and we all need to remind ourselves of the important lessons we learned last spring.

1. For most kids in the K-6 ages online school requires HEAVY parental support with both the learning and the technology.
If you are a parent supporting your child and working from home you might feel ineffective at both. You cannot expect to be perfect here.

2. Online school is a struggle for many kids. Just the return to the online environment will be upsetting for many. Online school means LOSS for kids. Loss of personal connections, fun activities, memories of last spring.
Let's support these normal feelings of loss, it's real.

3. As a parent you might be worried your kid is falling behind or not learning. Take solace, no one is acing online school. The goal for you and your kids is to get by.

4. If you are a leader, an employer or a co-worker remember that your colleagues with young kids are probably struggling today. Be supportive and understanding.

5. If it all falls apart, the technology fails, the learning fails and your kid feels safe enough to snuggle up to you with a good book, that is a win. If your kid gets through this feeling safe, you win.

6. Remember that online school is deeply inequitable. Those with the least struggle the most. Some kids don't have an internet connection, a device to connect, a parent to help, a safe place to connect from or a lunch to eat during the school day.

Our kids (all kids) deserve an education that allows them to feel safe, respected, and allows them the opportunity to reach for high goals. For many kids, for many reasons, online schooling doesn't do that.

So on this day, the first day back to online schooling, cut your kids some slack, cut yourself some slack, cut your employees some slack, cut your students some slack.
This is not ideal and it is HARD. We are all just trying to get by.