‘It felt pretty weird’: A second grader on what mask-optional looks like | Opinion
COVID hit in kindergarten, so she's never had a year of school that wasn't affected by the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Philadelphia schools made masking optional. This is a big deal.
It’s been a major topic of conversation in my house since Monday, when my daughter’s school in Cheltenham switched to “mask recommended” — in other words, students and staff are encouraged to wear masks but don’t have to. I talked to her Monday about what the change was like. She is in second grade.
Today was the first day of “mask recommended.” Were you thinking about it on your way to school?
I was thinking about it when I woke up this morning. It’s really crazy because we’ve been wearing a mask for a long time, and we don’t have to wear masks now.
It must feel weird.
Yeah, a little bit.
You wore a mask to school every day for a year. Was there ever a time that you hated it?
No. I guess it’s just part of my routine. I kind of like the masks, especially in winter because they are warm. But sometimes it’s annoying, because of the seam on the nose. Also, sometimes people’s masks go down when they yawn. I have to remind my friends all the time to pull them up. And some of them chew on their masks, and they get all wet.
Do you even remember going to school without masks? You only had six months of kindergarten before school shut down for COVID-19.
I probably remember one day. That’s it.
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So when you went to school this morning, how many people were wearing masks?
I don’t know. Not many. Some didn’t even bring one to school.
How did it feel to see these faces that you haven’t seen in a long time?
Um, it felt pretty weird. I see the girls’ faces at outdoor recess, but I don’t see most of the boys. So today was the first time I’d seen their faces.
What were you doing with your mask?
I had it on, but then I took it off for one second, and it felt so good.
How did it feel when you took the mask off?
It felt nice, and not so nice. I like to see people’s faces, but I also like that other people wear a mask because they are being extra safe. I would probably say I’ll spend most of the time having my mask on.
You are vaccinated. Why do you wear a mask?
That’s a good question. Since I see people not wearing a mask, I see that it’s all right to take it off. But I also like to keep it on, because I don’t want to get sick. If I got COVID it wouldn’t be so severe, it would just be like getting a cold. But I don’t like to get a cold.
You know why I wear a mask. Even if I got sick, it would probably just be a cold, too.
Yeah, but you want to keep other people safe.
So do you ever think about that?
No.
Were most of the teachers wearing masks?
No. That felt pretty weird. Because I didn’t expect my teachers to take off their masks.
Our guidance counselor was wearing a mask today. I saw him in the cafeteria when he was telling two kindergartners that it’s not nice to pull a chair out from under somebody.
I never had to deal with anything like this when I was in school. We never had a pandemic. We never had a time when we had to decide if we wanted to wear a mask or not. This is the first time you’ve been given a choice. What’s that like?
I think change is good, right? Sometimes change can be bad, too.
What kind of change do you think this is?
I think it’s a good change. Because I think a lot of the kids — especially kindergartners — have struggled because they have to wear a mask. That’s what my teacher told us.
But one kindergarten class at my school is really bad. They always leave a mess. They go to the library before we do, and today my library teacher told us that, since the kindergartners are not wearing masks anymore, they put the crayons in their mouths and spit them out on the ground. So the library teacher told us we can’t touch any of the crayons on the ground.
Can we stop now? This is boring.
Alison McCook is a writer living in Wyncote. @alisonmccook