We are all scared. Fear is what I see playing out in the heated and emotional debates about parenting decisions in the age of COVID. We are all grieving the loss of normal while managing chronic, high anxiety. Where our fears may have been lurking in the backseat before, they are now in the driver’s seat, taking the wheel.

I think we can all agree with the stance that having screen time limits is good. The confusing part comes in the details – what are those limits? How much screen time is too much? How do we enforce limits in a pandemic involving an unprecedented level of being homebound?

COVID-19 has changed everything. We can’t fix this. We can’t stop our children’s worlds from being flipped upside down. We have to just sit next to them while they cry and rage, without a way to make it better. This may be the best thing to happen to parenting in a long time. We are being forced into a situation to host our children through the process of building resilience.

A global pandemic strikes at the heart of the anxiety beast: the world is not safe. We are literally not able to leave the house because it might harm us or we might harm someone. So, especially for parents and children who are already prone to anxiety, how do we keep it from becoming completely consuming?

How do we work remotely while our children are e-learning, which will no means be without some adult supervision? How do we make decisions about how to balance social distancing with staying socially connected? How do we get through a pandemic while parenting?