The coronavirus pandemic is in full swing and in an attempt to slow down the spread of the deadly disease, a lot of governments across the world have instituted varying degrees of lockdowns and social distancing measures.

But while these guidelines make sense from an overall health perspective, they don’t always take into account the unique circumstances of a few people and that’s when misunderstandings and judgments can happen.

MaryAnn Fausey Resendez is a single mom who has faced her fair share of judgments because she takes her 5-year-old daughter with her to the grocery. Without knowing her situation, it’s easy to chastise her for endangering her child and violating social distancing guidelines.

But since she’s a single parent, she’s the only adult in her household and therefore can’t leave her kid alone when she goes out.

She has resorted to putting up a sign on her daughter’s back explaining her situation to stop any criticism and shaming in its tracks. She shared her post on Facebook and the Texas mom has received a lot of attention with more than 5.1k comments and 43k shares.

A few of them revealed that they were in the same situation as MaryAnn while others called on people to stop being so judgmental. However, a few still said that bringing children to the grocery is still potentially dangerous to the child.

It’s really a Catch-22 for single parents who have no one else to rely on to watch the kids at home. And there are more single parents than you might think.

In San Francisco, California, for example, roughly a quarter of all families with children are single-parent households. This number is more than one-third in Hidalgo County, Texas, where MaryAnn resides.

There really is no easy answer to this predicament but it’s a reality a lot of them have to face.

Izabel Arnold is a 26-year-old startup founder who is in the same boat as MaryAnn. Talking to the San Francisco Chronicle, she opens up about how overwhelmed and lonely she is.

“I think other working single moms share the same sentiment—that we feel we’re failing at our jobs and at being moms because both require our full attention, but neither can have it,” she said.

Izabel has stayed away from her parents so as not to increase the risk of exposing them to the virus. But her child’s daycare is closed so she needs to care for her son on her own all day, every day.

 

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