I think it’s accurate to say that we all have experienced one of the weirdest years of our lives. We’ve been forced to rethink every single one of our rituals, daily activities, ways we gather and rejoice around family and friends, and the way we work; basically, we’ve had to reshape our way of life almost entirely.

I’ve heard all kinds of theories on how to cope during this pandemic. Things like: It’s an awakening, just push through, be thankful, don’t look back, observe and reflect, slow down, just keep going, stay calm, be positive but truthful, be energetic and enthusiastic, embrace sadness, shake it all off.

The truth is that I’ve used them all. Different things have helped me during different points in time, because man, has this pandemic been long or what?

However, in the midst of this storm, in the distance, I still see the intense glance of my three kids who watch me closely all day. Three emotional thermometers that measure my mood hour by hour, minute by minute trying to make sense of their world and give meaning to this new way of life.

They listen to my conversations, observe my gestures, and try to interpret the meaning of my reactions. They look impatiently for a leader to show them the way on a misty path, unaware that their leader is also lost, and hides her fears behind a smile. A leader who’s doing a balancing act of embracing a positive attitude without hiding the truth. So, yes, these conversations have drained me and I’m exhausted.

Last week I had the opportunity to talk to middle school counselor and author Phyllis Fagell about how kids are coping during the Pandemic, and she gave us amazing recommendations that I would love to share with all of you today.

This zoom call was possible thanks to Responsibility.org, a foundation committed to cultivate a lifetime of responsible conversations between parents and kids, with which I’ve had the honor of partnering this 2020 as a #TeamResponsiblity ambassador. I truly believe this partnership came to me as my biggest blessing of the year, because thanks to it, I had the opportunity to have amazing conversations and receive advice from extraordinary experts like Phyllis.

Phyllis talked to us about how resilience in children means knowing who you are, along with picking good friends and knowing right from wrong. However, getting to these conversations is not always easy and to achieve them she recommends creating value cards, for example, kindness, honesty, responsibility, sense of humor, etc to help guide the discussion with our kids and help them lean onto those values when they are making decisions.

I´ll definitely will start her value-cards system to help me and my husband guide our discussions with our kids.

Going back to how our family rituals and activities have changed so much this 2020, and in light of starting a new year, I’d like to shift this heavy feeling and end the year in a lighter mood by giving my kids the gift of remembering and honoring this 2020 with a list of our funniest and most out of the ordinary situations that we lived as a family this year:

So, here they are:

• We used our kitchen countertops as school desks

• We wore more PPE than McDreamy of Grey’s Anatomy during brain surgery, to go to the grocery store

• Had extremely dry hands due to hand sanitizer obsession

• Learned how to smile with our eyes and how to speak loudly while wearing a face mask

• Watched dirty dishes duplicate like gremlins all day long.

• Had a love and hate relationship with my online fitness classes

• Lived with a 24/7 human presence called husband who snooped around the house making suggestions, asking weird questions, and gave his opinion on things he’s never cared about before

• Felt proud of my 10-year-old boy that became an expert bread maker and a Fortnite financial analyst all at the same time

• Learned new TikTok dances embarrassing my teenage daughters

• Had a real and genuine fear of running out of toilet paper

• Experienced six-feet-apart social gatherings where our hearing skills came to the test

• Gathered for Zoom classes, meetings, parties, and summits like this one where we discovered that the most important thing in the world is the mute button

Thanks so much to graphic storyteller, Nikki Kurt who created this amazing illustration that reflects these funny moments I shared, along with many other profound thoughts that fellow bloggers shared as well during our virtual summit with Responsibility.org