There are two big categories of experiences I feel like my kids are missing out on that I had significant experience with when I went to college. I wouldn’t blame it totally on Covid because, as I said, we are more introverted/home-bodies than average. But because there were fewer opportunities due to Covid, and because we had to be more cautious than average due to Covid, my kids haven’t had these experiences, and I’m not sure they will if I don’t make a point to make them happen.
Type 1: Traveling to unfamiliar places. Over the past 2.5 years we haven’t gone anywhere, even to any of the local cities around us, or to non-city places around us either. I think this will be fairly easy to rectify if we are intentional, and I plan to use some of the suggestions like having the kids plan the excursions and lead the way.
Type 2: Doing things on their own, from little things like going out to dinner with friends without a parent to big things like overnight camps or trips with a school/club group. Our exact family/school situation makes these more rare anyway, but they’ve been not just scarce but nonexistent the past few years. I’m going to have to put more thought and effort into finding these opportunities.
The other tips (making phone calls, interacting with doctors, etc) aren’t things I had thought about but are great.