Why I’m Encouraging My Daughter Not to Wear a Mask to School

It’s time to see each other’s faces again

Photo by Atoms on Unsplash

When I read my daughter the news that the school mask mandate will soon end, I expect a big response, along the lines of dancing in the streets or a mask burning.

She was nine years old and in the fourth grade when New York City public schools shut down two years ago. There were countless milestones she would miss; we recognized but did not dwell on them. She understood that in the face of a global pandemic, there’s not much room to cry over missing the Halloween fair or fifth grade play.

You get what you get and you don’t get upset was the adage we used most often in those days. We were amongst the fortunate families who were able to escape the city, living in our country house. We had enough space to house me and my ex-husband and our three kids. That we could not get Wifi was a source of constant tension as we fought over the hotspot granting us access to the outside world, but we made do.

There was never a question that when schools re-opened, my daughter would be in attendance. The school day was shortened and the class size half of what it had been, making the experience feel more like pre-K than fifth grade. She attended once a week, then twice, working her way up to a full week by spring…