Amber Petersen with daughters Anna, 10, and Erin, 7.
Editor’s note: This story is part of Coping with COVID-19, a series of brief looks at people in a pandemic.
By Kurt Williams
Amber Petersen, 39, Muskegon
What will you do after the stay-at-home order is lifted?
“First thing I’m going to do, I am sending a big bouquet of flowers to each one of the girls’ teachers. Well, because we can’t send flowers right now, and I think that with my kids being home, and I’m a full-time working parent, you undervalue (teachers) so much. I have an education degree, so I’ve always had that appreciation there, but it’s renewed.
“I think the biggest thing is that there’s just so many unknowns. Every day is completely different, and for the first three weeks, there was really nothing – I mean no expectations from the school other than just read.
“Overall my biggest challenge is the kids being home. I’m used to working from home, but having kids home changes things quite a bit. And so your routine now is changed quite a bit. It’s no longer, you have to be up at a certain time in the morning. So you can let them sleep in while you try to work, but when they sleep in, then they are up later at night.
“You have to stop and do meals and snacks and answer questions. So it’s that unpredictability. They are also experiencing some emotional things going on too, like they’re missing their friends too.
“Then the second thing I’m going to do is I’m going to go give my grandma a big hug.”