How 2020 Lowered Our Standards As Parents

2020 has been a year of many firsts; the first global pandemic in our lifetime, the first primarily virtual presidential election, the first time schools shut down across the country for an indefinite amount of time.

For a lot of parents, it was also the year of lowered standards. We realized this here in the KPCC/LAist newsroom when one brave soul broke the floodgates, admitting to serving her children cookies for lunch and hosting Minecraft play dates. The rest of us were so heartened that we weren’t the only ones who’d let our previously perfect children sink into depths of filth, rot and screen time, that we decided to share our shame with you.

So, here it goes. These are the just some of the ways that LAist staff/parents saw our standards lowered directly into the garbage in 2020:

“Not cleaning the bathroom for weeks on end.”

“Sometimes I don’t feed my kids breakfast until well into brunch-time.”

“Sometimes we just let them watch screens ALL DAY.”

“Sometimes I just let my 16-month-old eat the toilet paper she puts in her mouth.”

“Cookies for breakfast.”

“Sometimes I realize no one has eaten lunch and it's like, 3 p.m.”

“My two youngest barely wear shoes anymore (not sure where they are).”

“I was once the ‘no Fortnite’ mom, but clearly that happens all the time now (at least my 10-year-old is socializing while annihilating his friends).”

“Everything my 13-year-old has learned in the past nine months has probably come from TikTok.”

“There are piles of laundry everywhere, all the time.”

“My four-year-old is an excellent Minecraft player.”

“I ate five cookies and ice cream yesterday at 11 p.m.”

“My son has been wearing the same pajamas for like, five days straight. No changing clothes, no showers.”

“My husband allows our three-year-old to basically consume 80% of her daily calories via chocolate milk. “

“Fudge for lunch!”

“I’ve let my two-and-a-half year old stay in his overnight diaper until lunch. (No poop! Only pee! But still.)”

“I was going to do no screens until he was two. He turned two in June and was already a Daniel Tiger fiend by that point.”

“As I sit here at 11:21 p.m. in my daughter’s bed, I should add that my kids go to sleep WAY too late.”

“I haven't held back with swearing, and my tween daughter is emulating me, and now it's getting a little out of control.”

“My 12-year-old has started watching R-rated movies. They aren't violent or scary, but she's now seen The Kids Are Alright, Little Miss Sunshine and we're going to be showing her Bridesmaids soon. All great movies! But not in the bounds of the MPAA rating system.”

Happy New Year, everyone!