A demand for change

Back at the beginning of 2020, there was a demand for big change. A pandemic that at first everyone thought was a ploy to distract at first. This became very real when around spring break for most states the schools closed down. I know personally my kids where on spring break, everything seemed normal and I get a message that school are extending spring break. This came as a bit of a shock to me considering at that point and time I didn't follow the news very close. This effected many parents who worked primarily while their kids where in school. I was personally affected due to this, my work before the pandemic was working as a Tax Professional for H&R Block. The kids being out of school effected many who do seasonal work like I do. 

My kids were super excited about this because who doesn't want an extended spring break. As a few days pass into this extended spring break, they send another message stating that they are extending it another week. After that they announced they are doing remote learning and closing on campus learning. At first my kids were super excited about this. It quickly became difficult in the focusing department and getting things done promptly. I'll admit I struggled having them learning from home, largely because I do not have the training or skills the teachers have to teach the state regulated curriculum. It was as most have stated, a demand for change. 

As this all was going on, people where going crazy, in my personal opinion, buying canned goods, junk food in both canned and frozen and dry goods. All the basic necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, diapers, hand soaps, sanitizers, and much more. With numbers of the pandemic soaring and people still thinking the virus itself being a scam. We had the toilet paper shortage 2020, and between all the memes and jokes going around social media and the now limiting on major household items and limiting on the food your aloud to buy. 

After everyone using their savings to pay bills and paying for their everyday necessities, the government sent out relief payments. This was in March and some in April. This relief payment was a stimulus of $1,200 per adult or $2,400 per married filing joint couple and $500 per child. With a family of four they possibly receive $3,400. Now, personally we saved ours and it lasted as long as we could get it to last paying for bills and necessities. We were not part of the crazy stock piling of 2020, but we did make sure we had at least two to three weeks worth of food, that way we only went out when we needed to. 

I was still working from home about this time, it wasn't as much as I would have been while in the office, but I was getting at least 10 hours a week. I was working about a third of the hours I would have worked in the office. This is also the point when the IRS announced that tax season had been extended until June 15th. I can personally state for those who were not able to work in the office lost our jobs in April, this is due to not having the ability to go into the office. I had work until this point.  having a nest egg was comforting. As it was stated work may have stopped as well as school and daycare, bills still continued. A lot of companies stated that they would do a three month delay on payment but they would require all three months when the payment would be due. With that being said, of course, we paid our bills, we were not going to risk everything we worked so hard for to just go downhill like that. 

Going into summer everyone getting excited because of the warmer weather, in hopes of this virus being killed off by the summer heat. As all of this government had issued a phase opening. Each phase would open the states slowly. After this announcement around the beginning of June, due to an injustice, the country quickly became in a state of chaos. Each state having riots in very populated areas, these riots created more issues for 2020. Honestly, our kids are going to try to explain 2020 and it would confuse generations to come. I personally think that this year is many different aspects of history repeating itself. As summer emerges the virus didn't show any signs of slowing down. For this reason most states ceased the reopening immediately most only in the first week of phase 2 of 3. This led to a lot more people loosing their jobs due to inability to go into work. This also spiked the numbers of unemployed people.

Come July many people still at home wondering when they would be going back to work. The talk of another relief check lingered in the air. Although at this time it's only rumored, many were hopeful for it. With the warmer weather only getting warmer and kids getting stir crazy being home with their parents while some still respecting the six foot rule of social distancing to help slow the spread. 

Now so far in this pandemic, they gave most people with Student Loan, Forbearance on the debt. This was a relief for many because Student Loans were taking from their taxes for those who's loans were default. I personally was able to consolidated my loans to get back into school. For some this may be an opportunity to get everything situated and go back to school if they so choose to. It's a rare opportunity to take advantage of. As it seemed to such a long month of July, toward the end of July there couldn't be an agreement in senate to give another relief payment to people. This moving into the first week of August and still up in the air.  

It's now the end of the first week of August and there's talk of school reopening on campus and remote for those who don't feel comfortable sending their kids to school. School's have a plan to reopen the schools on campus with only a couple of new things implemented for the safety of the students. I am personally opting to have my kids learn remotely because I would rather not take any unnecessary risks to what seems to be a very contagious and unpredictable virus. My kids are in elementary school, and as a parent with children in these grade levels. This is a breading ground for any type of virus because kids at this age, as much as most parents don't want to admit, no matter what you do don't think twice about doing something as simple as washing their hands or sanitizing after sneezing or coughing. I know personally my kids need to be on 24/7 surveillance with reminders to do this. They are young and honestly distracted. This is normal for kids between the ages of 5 and 12. I honestly think more is needed in this age group due to  their lack of understanding of how important it is. 

I know this post is long, I hope you enjoyed reading this, I also would like to remind people this is an opinion based blog. This is also not a form of news. I am only stating personal opinions and thoughts on current events. I am also not an accredited source for information. Thank you so much for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.