Hi Arfie, I understand your personal difficulties with masks, I've read a lot of your concerns and challenges with them over the past year, and I get it! I don't know where you live, but it seems like all school districts are moving forward with in person school this year, some even rejecting all forms of virtual as an option even for kids home sick. So, hopefully that gives you some comfort. I sometimes find masks a bit annoying, and with my asthma I have found that wearing one for a long period can get hard and I'll need a "fresh air" break, and trying to get my words understood by another person through one can be frustrating. But,it is the whole world (see the Olympics, and any international news) that is using them to reduce the spread of this disease, and that gives me logical comfort in knowign that it is NOT just a forced compliance or control of the population thing. My 4-5 year old wore a mask in her day care last year, and the little kids actually seemed to do really well with them. It is not what anyone would want for the kids, but if it helps stop people from dying a miserable coughing death then it seems like a small annoyance to pay, and it will come to an end when this disease gets under control.

Anyway, I tried to avoid sounding like a lecture, but I may not have succeeded there! ;) I just want to give you some comfort to know that day care aged kids can thrive and do fine with wearing a mask for all/most of the day. Ask your local center what they are doing - for us, they kids did not wear them at nap time, where they could maintain distance between the kids, and they only had classes of 10 kids (which was wonderfully small!!!). My sense is that "social distancing" is more of an individual bubble style comfort level these days, more than any mandated specific distance, and the general courtsey of giving anotehr person some space on teh sidewalk for example.....just giving a bit more than historically "usual".

I also found that day care in different areas do things a bit differently. You'll likely see that they require the teachers and kids wear masks all day when inside, that they have their own supplies and own spots at their tables, and masks may or may not be required when playing outside. You'll likely see that the class sizes are 10 kids or so, which is a wonderful change from the usual 16-20 for those 4-5 year olds! I hope that helps you feel a bit better about the consideration! I started my parenting journey more than 13 years ago and was reluctant, to say the least, to utilizing day care, but now I am a huge proponent and have seen the benefits of it for the children as actual preSCHOOL. They have so much fun and learn a ton, and when the day care teachers were good (we had some crummy ones) it helped remind me how to be an effective parent-teacher! :) I hope this helps you.

Thank you, Hopi. I envy your confidence and adaptability.

For now, I'm keeping the focus on the re-opening of the public schools. As chaotically masked and distant as they are this year, the information on the newest rules is more readily available, albeit diversely interpreted. I'll unravel the mysteries of masked and distant day care at a later date. Maybe. For now, there is quite allot Baby Sis can learn right here on the farm.

Stepping small, praying big and letting God lead the dance.