Can anyone get things done like moms can? We don’t think so… especially if those moms are motivated by the idea of getting their kids safely back into the classroom.
That’s what we’ve learned from a group of New Jersey moms, who are working together to make sure that the teachers at their children’s schools are able to be vaccinated. Of course, the vaccine rollout shouldn’t be another burden that falls on mothers; but with the rollout going less than smoothly, these moms are stepping up to the plate as a way to support teachers.
In New Jersey, getting an appointment for the COVID vaccine is super difficult. Since teachers are in the classroom all day, they don’t have time to sit by the computer in order to grab the first slot that opens up. So, the mom volunteers are spending time doing just that — snagging vaccination appointments for teachers who have signed up via a Google doc.
“To be working together instead of arguing with one another has really been a saving grace, and that has helped our kids stay focused,” Robert Lombardy, superintendent of Hillsdale Public Schools, told CBS.
Nicole Doniloski is a fourth grade teacher who was able to get an appointment because of the moms’ work. Some other teachers at the school are calling the mom volunteers “vaccine angels.”
“It was basically magic,” Doniloski said. “It’s nice to know that I’m protected.”
Vaccinated Moms Can Pass Antibodies To Babies Through Breast Milk
Speaking of the vaccine, there’s good news for breastfeeding moms who are getting vaccinated: a study has detected COVID-19 antibodies in the breast milk of women who have received the vaccine. That means that moms could be passing some projection onto their babes when they get vaccinated.
It’s important to note that the study was very small, with only six women. However, researchers saw that antibodies were present in breastmilk beginning seven days after the first vaccine administration. It’s also very cool that the idea for the study came from a doctor and nursing mom, Jill Baird, who had her husband test her breast milk for antibodies, King5 Portland reported.
“We hope that women like me who are making the decision on whether or not to get vaccinated, that they have a little bit more information when they make that decision,” Baird said. “That they have some information on possible benefits for their baby.”
If you’re not nursing but want your children to be vaccinated, there’s also good news: Johnson and Johnson announced this week that it will begin testing its one-dose COVID vaccine in infants.
The Moms Learning From Other Cultures
When reporter Michaeleen Doucleff went on a reporting trip to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, she was escaping her toddler at home, who was giving her a run for her money. In Mexico, she realized that the adults had a much calmer way of interacting with the kids — one that she thought she could incorporate into her own parenting.
“They just had this incredibly calm, relaxed confidence about them that I had never seen in my life,” Doucleff told NPR. “One of the key, key differences is that the parents never engage with the child at a heated level… So all the parents have this incredible calm energy that they bring to every interaction with a child. So no matter how heated the child is and upset the child is, the parent remains this incredibly calm, gentle way.”
Doucleff writes about how Yucatán parents manage that approach, and how she incorporated it into her own interactions with her daughter in her new book, Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach US About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans.
“This approach is really about minimizing conflict and tension and really maximizing cooperation,” Doucleff said.
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