As parents, we have to be the bad guy or gal a lot of times when raising our children. Now, faced with a global pandemic, parents are being thrown to the wolves and having many new  "no's"  to tell their children.

Parenting is not easy, and sometimes you have to put your foot down, lay down some law, and be the bad guy. Saying no is never fun for parents, as we understand what being a child is like. Maybe it's just wanting to stay up late and you have to send them to bed. Perhaps, you have to tell your kid they can't do something for whatever reason. It happens, it comes with the territory.

However, now that we're are in the middle of a pandemic that shows no signs of being gone anytime soon, we have to continue to disappoint our children in order to keep them safe during these crazy times.

Sorry kid, no sleepovers, don't touch that, we can't go here or there, don't hug your friends, sanitize your hands, wash your hands, wear your mask, no you can't take it off, we have to stay six feet away from others, geez, I'm exhausted just typing all this nonsense.

What are we to do? How is this affecting our children's mental health? There are so many things that race through your mind as a parent that at the end of the day, you have no control over.

Personally, my wife and I continually are thinking of different things we can do to allow our children to enjoy some sort of normalcy, like celebrating holidays. One of the hardest things is not knowing when this will all be over and trying to provide your children with some sort of peace of mind during this time.

Parents are now home teachers with virtual learning and are faced with trying to maintain a home classroom while trying to work from home at the same time. Have you ever tried to do a radio show in your bedroom while your kids are remote learning in the other room? It's a trip let me tell you. Imagine that, having a job where when you work from home your children HAVE to stay quiet? Welcome to my life.

As a parent, there's one finger that I am holding up as far as I can to the Coronavirus and it's not the index or pinky, or the ring or the thumb. It's the one you put up when you really loathe something.

To all the parents out there, cheers, you deserve a drink...maybe two.

- Smitty

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