Fredericksburg Parent

6 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • November 2020 PUBLISHER Leigh Anne Van Doren Tabitha & Jamie Nelle's mom EDITOR & WEBMASTER Chris Jones Quincy, Hayden & Olive's dad MEDIA & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Megan Walsh: Mia, Noelle & Adelaide's mom DESIGN & PRODUCTION Cheryl Carter, Owner, Carter Creations Alex, Kate & Jackie's mom SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING MANAGER Lovedy Carroll: Meredith's mom CALENDAR & COOL THINGS TO DO ELETTER Leigha Pecher: Jake & Luke's mom EDUCATION AND INFANT ELETTERS Debra Caffrey: Aidan's mom parent fredericksburg & family Entrepreneur of the Year PROUD FOUNDING MEMBER ADVERTISING PHONE 540-429-3572 EMAIL leighanne@fredericksburgparent.net CALENDAR & SOCIAL MEDIA E-MAIL webmaster@fredericksburgparent.net EDITORIAL PHONE 540-429-3572 E-MAIL fredparenteditor@gmail.com SNAIL MAIL P.O. Box 7884, F'burg, VA 22404 www.fredericksburgparent.net The publishers reserve the right to reject any advertisement, editorial or listing that does not meet the publication's stan- dards. No part of this magazine may be reproduced with out permission. Listing and advertising rates are available upon request. Every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the information con- tained herein, however, the publisher cannot guarantee such accuracy. Listings and advertisements are sub- ject to typographical errors, ommissions and/or change without notice. For terms and conditions please visit our website at www.fredericksburgparent.net © Copyright 2019 Nurture, Inc. All rights reserved. LIKE facebook.com/ FredericksburgParent SIGN UP www.FredParent.net TWEET twitter.com/fredparent PIN www.pinterest.com/ fredparent FOLLOW @fredparentmagazine WRITTEN BY CHRIS JONES editor's note 2020: The Year that Taught Us How to Live Photo by Corey Miller Photography This year has been a wild ride, hasn't it? As a parent, I found 2020 to be my most challenging year since 2012—when our infant son had colic for his fi rst three months, we lost everything in an apartment fi re and were temporarily displaced and my grandmother died. In that year, I was forced to re-examine my life and pivot. This year felt much the same way. One thing I appreciated about the pandemic—the silver lining so to speak—was how it disrupted our pace. I had long felt the pace at which we were going was doing us more harm than good. As parents we were working more hours, our children were inundated with homework and extracurricular ac vi es that spilled into nights and en re weekends. Tex ng replaced family conversa on and Google Calendar was the law. Both parents and children were becoming overly stressed, anxious, and deeply deprived of rest. The pandemic's eff ect on our lives and schedules was akin to a swimmer succumbing to a cramp midway through a heat. It was a full stop. It was me to re-evaluate. I had to change the way I parented, change the way that I worked, change my rela onship with my wife, and put outside friendships on hold to ensure my fam- ily thrived fi rst. I'm sure you did the same. It didn't come without heavy doses of frustra on, parental fa gue, and endless doubts as to whether I was handling this well in the presence of my children. I felt like Bad Cop/Good Cop in The LEGO Movie. Depending on the day, the face my children saw would be variable—Good dad/Frustrated dad. I had to look my teary-eyes kids in the face and apologize for my reac ons many a-days. #DadSinsConfessed Despite the challenges we all faced this year, we got to the end. And I pray we can look toward 2021 with the same hope and op mism we had entering in 2020. This year, we learned how to fl ow with the mes, how to adapt and adjust and how to choose the important over the trivial. I'll close by wishing you a happy and fes ve holiday season. Celebrate one, or all, of the upcoming holidays—Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa—as part of the greater lesson of 2020 of being more community minded, rela onal and loving of your neighbors. May you fi nd joy and peace in what's likely to be one of the most non-tradi onal, yet memorable, holiday seasons in our life mes. And cheers to a happy and healthy 2021.

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