Even when the rest of the world is still trying to determine which way is up, older sisters figure out a way to get things done when it comes to their younger siblings.
As she regularly reminds us, Godzilla is 5 years, 10 months and 27 days older than her brother. Among other things, that means Mothra is used to listening to big girls, whether it is his sister or a member of her Girl Scout troop.
Although we have incorporated some screen time in his distance learning, Mothra has not had Zoom chats like his sister has. His teachers realized up front that attempting to do any kind of live video call with a passel of 4-year- olds would be an exercise in futility, which means the only child he is regularly interacting with while sheltering in place is his older sister.
Before the chaos hit, several of Godzilla’s teachers commented this year about how great she was with the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. Although there have been daily moments when she is clearly five seconds from losing her cool, that patience with the younger set has been on display during our transition to distance learning.
Mothra is not always willing to listen to his parents when it comes to tracing and practicing his letters. As any child will attest, Mom or Dad having to ask you daily to do something gets old really quickly.
It’s another message entirely when it comes from Godzilla, though.
“Mothra, if you finish your carrot sticks, I’ll help you work on writing your name.”
Poof go the carrots. Scrawled letters magically start appearing on a piece of paper.
“Mothra, Daddy is working on a spreadsheet. Would it be OK if I read you Pete the Cat instead?”
Poof goes the 4-year-old. Out comes Pete the Cat or Llama Llama in another room.
To be clear, my fourth-grader is not leading the charge on her brother’s distance learn- ing opportunities. She is just pitching in in-between her own assignments or, in the case of story time, using it as a substitute for drama class. Unfortunately, I know that not all of her classmates can necessarily say the same thing right now for one reason or another.
However, that she has been willing to help keep him engaged during all of this has been a boon to her father and I who are working from home. We are giving him as much one-on-one attention and play time as we can, but sometimes, we have to do the tasks that keep the lights on and food in the pantry.
For Mothra, just having a big girl to listen to is another small slice of continuity throughout all of this.