Carnegie Hill Mom

Thanks to fears around the coronavirus, venturing to the grocery store is more fraught with peril than ever. The lines, crowds, germs, rationing and bare shelves have sucked all the joy out of what is typically my kids’ favorite errand . When you must venture out to a grocery store (are we seriously out of milk again?) at least make it worth your while and bring back more than food. Grab a store circular to use as a launching off point for creative play that introduces kids to life skills. Try out this activity, which incorporates exercise (jumping jacks), math (counting, addition, subtraction), budgeting (shopping), science (food groups), and fine motor skills (cutting, gluing, coloring). Here’s What You’ll Need: Grocery store circular or printed out pictures of food with prices Timer Paper Envelopes (optional) Scissors Markers Shopping bags or baskets Paper plates (optional) Glue or tape Try it Out: 1. Go to Work:  Set a timer for one minute. ...

In last night’s dream, I found myself at a rural version of our Manhattan school. Due to the coronavirus, school wasn’t in session, but children with no place to go kept wandering in and sneakily doing relay races from our canceled Field Day, hoping no authorities would notice. I was wheeling a dolly down the hall with a particularly smelly load. Turns out I was the new custodian managing pest control and porta-potties. Excellent. At least I had a job! Early the previous morning, I woke up from a nightmare in which I had forgotten to show up for my Kindergartener’s remote learning class two days in a row (first a call, then an in-person meeting) because we were at my older kids’ class meeting at a basketball court. So much for social distancing! I had somehow lost complete track of my three-year-old while chatting with another mom. And now I had a message coming through saying that I would need to make up lesson plans about “leech colors” for the Kindergarteners. I groggily googl...