So my daughter was supposed to be an apprentice for a theatre company this summer in Boston but obviously that didn’t happen. They offered an online option to students so they could still learn and participate virtually and she decided to take that option. It started this past Monday and so far has been wonderful. In a summer where most in the arts fields don’t have a lot, it is a blessing for her to still be able to hone her craft with a great company! She also just moved back to her college town (sublet a room for the next 1.5 months until dorm opens) and found a job at a restaurant who will work around the hours of her virtual apprenticeship.
After my D’s REU was cancelled, she was able to get a part-time virtual research internship through her college. Through that she’s picking up more coding skills and enjoying it so far.
She’s doing some website work for the store where she works during the school year in her college town.
Some faculty put together a faculty/student ‘book club’ for bio majors where they read journal articles and discuss over zoom.
She writes for her college newspaper and they are publishing a lot of online content over the summer related to Black Lives Matter and COVID so that’s also keeping her busy.
No traveling and only seeing people outside and in socially distant manner. She has a few friends she’ll meet at a nearby preserve, take blankets and snacks and hang out.
It’s a lot of screen time (like the rest of us!) but overall it’s been a lot better than she thought when the REU was cancelled.
My S21, on the other hand, had his summer camp job cancelled and he’s doing a lot of nothing! Trying to get him to finish his college essays and test prep. . .
My daughter is working as a vet tech with the same vet she shadowed two summers ago. Working on vet school applications and taking an online class at local community college.
Someone brought a feral cat in that recently had kittens. She really wanted to adopt one of them but we knew we would end up taking care of it (or at least having it in our house for some period of time and with a crazy wild dog, that just wasn’t going to happen). She took care of a patient at the clinic over a weekend who recently had leg surgery (for the 4th time) because its owners were getting married.
She comes home every day excited about some surgery they did that day or something crazy that happened with a follow up exam.
My son just started back at his lifeguard job. He’s a manager this year, and he’s lucky to have work. They didn’t bring all the lifeguards back. Tough summer for a lot of kids.
My daughter just graduated from college, but since she hopes to go to grad school in a year, I sill consider her a college kid! She was very fortunate to land a job photographing newborns at our local hospital. It’s only part-time and doesn’t pay that great, but it’s in her field! Our first kid who can claim that distinction and she’s our youngest. We’re thankful this worked out, because she was having no luck with other jobs. Also, we’ve been paying her to do projects around the house, so we’ll save some money. 
Photographing babies??? Oohhhh, MaineLonghorn’s D for the win!
So how to you all handle your kids coming and going into the household, if they are working or interning? Do they sanitize and shower when coming home? Do they have their own bathroom? Just curious. I have been surprised because I thought people were still limited to online activities unless their work was essential. I must live in a bubble here in my small town.
My daughter takes a shower and washes her scrubs when she comes back from the vet. She has her own bathroom (that she shared with older brother when he lived with us). She eats dinner with us and otherwise spends time with us.
“Essential” was a political determination. Various businesses/industries were lobbying to get included on the list so they could continue to operate. At this point, state is largely re-opened with a lot of limitations. For 2 plus months no one went anywhere in our house other than my wife getting groceries every 10 days or so. We still don’t go many places (other than walks in parks). Daughter needed something to do this summer and vet hours are critical (especially for totally unhooked applicant) for vet school.
D is living alone in GA for her job so she has no one to expose or share living space, but I’ve been working for the last month. We are an essential business but all businesses were able to reopen here in IL as of last week.
D is temperature checked every morning, has to complete a survey, wears a mask when she can’t socially distance, washes hands, etc… Cafeteria is closed so she packs lunch and eats outside. Office space is all socially distanced and de-densified.
Here’s my own “process” -
At work we don’t wear street shoes in the office. They are taken off at the door and I change into my office shoes that stay there. I wear a mask. We limit how many patients are in the office at once. We socially distance. The door is locked to make sure we don’t have any walk ins. I wash my hands x 100 throughout the day and we spray down all high touch areas after each patient. I wash my hands so much that my wedding band/engagement ring is causing me a ton of irritation.
When I get home, I take my shoes off, I wash my hands, throw my clothes in the hamper, and wash my hands again. I’m sharing the house/bathroom/bed with my husband. I don’t shower until the morning (I would if I was in a hospital setting by I work at a stand alone chiropractor’s office.)
I’ve found that now that I’m out every day, it doesn’t feel as “scary” as the media is portraying it to be. Yes, case numbers are going up, but in my area it’s because of increased testing. Positive rate, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decrease. IMO, those are the metrics we should be focused on.
Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Socially distance. It’s not a guarantee but most people are still having to work outside the house.
@compmom We have all been working the whole time not at home so DD working was no different. In fact, we have brought her BF into our home too so he can play baseball (and work). I work with 2 other people, DH with 1 or 0, DD with 1 usually, and BF works outside. But our county has generally had 3 or less active cases at any given time. Life is practically normal here.
@compmom , we just all wash our hands as soon as we come in. My son actually has to wipe down all tables and chairs at the pool at the end of his shift, so he’s pretty disinfected anyway by the time he gets home.
PS. Just want to add that no one in our immediate household has any co-morbidities or underlying health problem. I’m sure we’d do things differently if that wasn’t the case.
Even though my son isn’t living with us this summer he is living with a family (the vet’s family). He leaves his scrubs at the clinic to be washed. Changes into his to work clothes in a locker room (only used by about 5 people), drives home, goes straight to shower and change to evening lounge wear, and then puts his work clothes into a bag to be washed. He wears a mask all day at the vet. The veterinarians here and there were deemed critical throughout this entire time and have been open, just doing curbside pick up and drop off only.