As the school year approaches, we now must decide as parents, how to safeguard our most precious treasure—our children—while sending them into harm’s way in the midst of this ferocious pandemic.
We yearn for so much normal that we can’t fathom the start of school being anything other than normal. Yet no one wants to say the obvious; That it’s impossible not to send them into this viral storm.
So where does that leave us? A basket of impossible choices to choose from, ultimately playing Russian Roulette with the safety of our kids, our family, our towns—and our country. According to parenting expert and educational thought leader Carew Papritz, if our fundamental jobs as parents is to protect our child from harm, then we are about to fail in a monumental way.
“We are the front line in our children’s lives. Why can’t we ask for the impossible? If our ultimate job is to protect, we will do nothing less than the impossible for our children. If we have to send our kids back to school, why are we are not asking for the safest possible way to do so. Why can’t we test every last child in America and then keep on testing them over and over again?
If we must send our kids back to school, and we cannot tolerate another day, week, or month of online learning, then we have no choice but to ask for the impossible…”
…says Papritz who has been an advocate for testing every child (including his son) in his own community of Green Valley, Arizona. As the nationwide “guinea pigs,” Arizona will be the first state to send kids back in less than 4 weeks, and with a 1/3 Covid positivity rate statewide, it’s crucial that they get in front of this surge!
“We wield “parent power” every day in our children’s lives—and we know how to use it. We are the parents of 76 million students, and we need to use our amazing powers of influence to demand every last one of our kids gets tested.
Our children are not businesses to open or close at will. They are not bowling alleys or bars, or hair salons or movie theaters that can be opened or closed depending on the whim of the virus. Our kids are our lives. They need us to stand up for them—for their health and safety—for their lives. They need school. They need teachers. They need to learn.”
..writes Papritz in his latest op-ed. Wanting to get kids on board and interested, Papritz created this acronym to help them spread awareness:
“TIK-TOK”
(Testing Is Knowledge. Test Our Kids!)
ABOUT CAREW PAPRITZ:
Carew Papritz is an educational thought-leader, literacy advocate, and author of the multi-award-winning book, The Legacy Letters.Through his YouTube videos, including the I Love to Readseries andhisFirst-Ever Book Signings, and events such as creating National Thank You Letter Day and the World’s Largest Handwritten Thank You Letter, Papritz spreads the love of reading, learning, and civility to people of all ages.
Papritz has made a global impact by being an advocate for literacy and teaching future generations about the importance of legacy.
Papritz’s writings have been published in a number of media outlets including, The Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, First Time Parent Magazine, and Inc. His most recent Op-ed comments on his time as a freelance photojournalist in the Los Angeles Riots: Why the Riots Again? The Power of Not Normal as Normal.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
