In my neck of the woods, it was Spring break this week, a week that I typically dread each year because it means that I will have to figure out how to work from home while my kids are also home from school. This year, it is completely the opposite: My kids are still at home, but it has been a welcome relief not to have to deal with homeschooling at the same time. Writing for Pajiba/Uproxx is a great experience. Helping my daughters with their school work is mostly a nice experience, too. Doing both at the same time? It’s like pulling teeth and suffocating at the same time!

Having spent six weeks with them at home, when they do eventually return to school (hopefully next fall), I feel like I will miss them desperately and will worry even more as parents than we already do. But also? I don’t know what it’s like to be alone anymore. I just need a few hours each day where I don’t hear anyone else’s voice. To wit: I was trying to have a meltdown of my own the other day, but one of my daughters kept walking into the room to ask, “When are we going to start the next episode of Nailed It?” And I’m like, “Just give me five minutes, OK?” And she agreed, only to return every 60 seconds to ask if five minutes was up yet. We can’t even have a proper meltdown anymore!

This is not sustainable, and yet with school closed for the rest of the school year in most parts of the country, it has to be sustainable. We have to figure it out. We don’t have much of a choice. All we have left is to vent. Over on Reddit, it’s exactly what they are doing in the Corona-content section, where anonymity allows them to escape the judgment of other parents.

Anyone else sick of pretending that this is working? from r/Parenting

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Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.