If you're a parent, every minute you've made it through since March is a small victory. Moms especially are feeling the heaviness that 2020 has brought in spades. We're concerned for our kids' health, their future, the kind of world they're growing up in, and so much more. In times of such heaviness, it's really important to find levity. We have to laugh to make it through. The more time you spend at home with your family, the more you'll laugh. The hilarity you're faced with on a day-to-day basis varies from family to family. October 15 is World Handwashing Day. Before this year, it might have seemed like an unusual holiday. Now you have to laugh at how we've taken for granted some of the easiest ways to keep ourselves safe. Now we try to pass that knowledge on to kids, often to mixed results.
We've found some of the funniest memes from the past few months of parents desperately trying to keep their kids and their homes clean during multiple crises. It goes to show we're all fighting the same battle on different battlegrounds. It's absurd, and you've got to stop and laugh.
Author James Breakwell shared the perils of having a preschooler during a global health crisis in a hilarious tweet. They might be able to keep their hands to themselves, but their mouths? That's a whole other (horror) story.
“Me: Did you wash your hands?
4-year-old: No.
Me: Why are your hands wet?
4: I licked them.
That should kill the germs.“
A lot of parents with children under the age of 10 are nervous, and for good reason. Of course, we're worried about our kids, but we're also worried about ourselves. Have you seen where kids under 10 fall on the hygiene spectrum?
Getting the laundry in the washing machine usually isn't the hard part. But then remembering to switch it into the dryer? How much can you ask of a person? This is how we all end up going through so much detergent.
Getting kids to wash their hands regularly is a feat in itself. Getting those hands dry before they're dirty again is practically a miracle. Drying them on a surface that's actually made for drying hands? Good luck.
Remember when you could clean in the peaceful moments when your house was empty? Yeah, neither can we. With everyone home, you're lucky if you can keep a corner clean and disinfected before something lands/gets dropped on/collides into it.
You'll need all the powers that be to help out if you have multiple small children. You find yourself outnumbered against the very forces making the mess you're so desperately trying to control. This baby panda zookeeper can deeply relate.
Are the kids complaining about their dried-out little hands? We've been there. Getting them to take care of their hands so that they're comfortable is tough. May the lotion be ever in your favor, and may the moisturizing be intense.
Kids are taking pictures for school; you're taking pictures to project some semblance of normalcy to your timeline. Somewhere in between, you might be trying to make a memory or two. Now if only you knew how to Photoshop away a pile of laundry in the background.
Does anyone else have a small, deadpan nihilist on their hands? Some parents out there are trying to drag the empathy out of their kids. You have to laugh through it, or it'll drive you up a wall. Trust us on this one.
“Me: So there are a lot of scary viruses going around and we need to wash our hands a lot, ok?
My kids: Meh
Me: Thousands of people are dying and all you need to do is wash your hands
My kids: You said everyone dies someday”
Parents aren't alone in the struggle to keep kids' hands and environments clean. Teachers are also fighting the good fight, some doing double duty if they've got little ones at home.
“Miss Hannah!!! I wanna hold your hand!
Did you go to the bathroom?
Yes.
Did you wash your hands?
I don’t know…”
