{"id":25096,"date":"2023-03-09T12:01:44","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T11:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=75575"},"modified":"2023-03-09T12:35:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T11:35:28","slug":"why-snow-days-are-still-vital-in-a-post-covid-world","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/why-snow-days-are-still-vital-in-a-post-covid-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Why snow days are still vital in a post-COVID world"},"content":{"rendered":"

These last few years have been tough on everyone. We should make the most of an opportunity to frolic in the snow (or veg out on the sofa). <\/p>

By Aleks Krotoski\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 09 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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One of the unanticipated consequences of COVID-19 is that we can no longer justify the sloth we once enjoyed in idle moments caused by Acts of God. Snow days, leaves on the line \u2013 these once perfect excuses to sit in front of the telly with bag of Doritos have been stolen back into productivity by connectivity \u2013 and not just because we have digital access, but also because we\u2019ve got really good at using it.<\/p>\n

Offices that never imagined committing to remote working now expect employees to carry on as normal when transport is down. When plagues of locusts swarm, school schedules migrate online. In this new normal, Oz\u2019s Dorothy would have been expected to log in to classes while her house was sucked into the tornado\u2019s vortex. And that would have been a terrible mistake.<\/p>\n

If, during the initial lockdowns, you were one of the enviable people who didn\u2019t need to provide full-time care or have a job on the frontline, you might feel you\u2019ve had enough days off, albeit somewhat of a distant memory by now. But emergency procedures are put into place for a reason. When I was at school near Washington, DC, we were sent home once due to the threat of a hurricane. While we didn\u2019t get hit, Hurricane Hugo caused more than $7bn of damage to South Carolina. When you got a day off, it was serious.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Harrison Clough<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

This epic event has broken our economies and our mental wellbeing. We had to come up with solutions, which we did \u2013 thank you, internet. The challenge now is to know when to apply those solutions, and when a moment warrants calling an old fashioned in-front-of-the-TV-with-a-bag-of-Doritos snow day.<\/p>\n

Back in December 2020, our kid\u2019s school was closed when a blizzard hit the east coast of the US. Our online school protocols were already in place because we\u2019d been doing remote classes for three months. But rather than asking us to log our kids in for a new-normal day at home, the principal reminded us that this was serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a hard year for everyone, including our children,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cMany of the joys of childhood have been curtailed due to very necessary safety restrictions. However, playing outside in the snow, albeit with masks and social distancing, need not be one of these,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cA snow day is a joy of childhood, and we should not let it be taken away from our students as a by-product of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t always need to use our technological solutions as a workaround for epic events, just because we can. They can normalise things that are big deals, and should be treated so. Calling a day off when Mother Nature interjects gives us a moment to reflect on the awesome thing that\u2019s occurred, and its impact on both our fellow humans and the infrastructures that keep \u2018normal\u2019 ticking over.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n