Today, while I struggled to assist my kindergartener with her online classes—juggling YouTube videos, Google Docs, and various school apps—I felt my patience and sanity start to unravel. Just as I declared, “I’m DONE! We’ll tackle this later!” my eldest son stepped in to save the day.
This scenario has played out numerous times over the past year, with him eagerly lending a hand to his younger siblings as they navigated the complexities of remote learning. He has a remarkable ability to sense when I’m at my wit’s end, coming to the rescue more times than I can count, and I couldn’t be more thankful for his support.
As he guided her through video clips, helped her sound out words, and typed up responses for her assignments, it struck me that without him, surviving this year of challenges—especially the e-learning aspect—would have been nearly impossible. While I consider myself fairly tech-savvy, I can’t compete with my oldest son’s natural aptitude for managing the myriad of issues that arise on their devices throughout the school day. He has a gift for technology that many kids seem to possess, having been immersed in it from birth. For him, it’s second nature.
In contrast, the methods of learning and completing assignments today often feel like a foreign language of hieroglyphics and emojis to me. Back when I was in third grade, we practiced cursive letters in shaving cream and didn’t even think about calculators. My son, on the other hand, was learning coding, creating PowerPoint presentations, and recording podcasts in his third-grade class. His approach to math seems as complex as calculating the speed of light, utilizing scientific calculator features that I didn’t even touch until high school.
This past year has forced me into the role of the primary educator at home, a challenge for which I was unprepared. Enter my little hero. He takes pride in assisting his siblings and communicates lessons in a way that resonates with them, as he speaks their language. Having recently learned these subjects himself, he possesses both the patience to understand their frustration and the creative strategies to help them overcome obstacles.
Without my eldest’s knowledge and familiarity with the lessons—and, crucially, the platforms used to deliver them—my younger children’s homeschooling experience would have looked drastically different this past year, likely resulting in many more meltdowns and frustrated outbursts.
Older siblings like him deserve recognition for stepping up as role models, demonstrating compassion, patience, and support to their younger siblings, while also becoming unsung heroes to parents overwhelmed by the demands of working, cleaning, cooking, and ensuring their children receive a semblance of an education at home during this unprecedented time.
My oldest son truly is the unsung hero of our family’s pandemic journey, and once things return to some semblance of normal, I plan to reward him—maybe with a pony (or more realistically, a new gaming system, because let’s face it, kids today prefer tech gadgets over pets). He absolutely deserves it…and so much more.
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In summary, older siblings have played an invaluable role during the pandemic, stepping up to assist with remote learning and providing much-needed support to both their younger siblings and parents. Their efforts often go unnoticed, making them the true champions of this challenging time.