I read an article about how teens have adapted and changed during the pandemic so I decided to interview Molly to see what she had to say. I was surprised by some of her answers, but I was mostly moved by her honesty. I had no idea it was hard for her to be motivated for distance learning. When she concludes that she hopes that maybe she can have a sleepover with her friends someday, I was pretty choked up. I hope you enjoy our interview. Please enjoy the 15-minute video I posted on Facebook, or read the transcript below.

Hi, I am Polly Chappell and I am interviewing my daughter Molly for my blog on adolescent resilience. This interview is going to be on how Molly has changed and adapted to the pandemic.

Think back to when the pandemic first started, how did it affect your community? What I am talking about are things like wearing masks, social distancing, travel, and school.

Molly: At first people didn’t like the idea of masks, including me and my family. I did wear some interesting masks. My first time ever going into Coborn’s, I wore a gaiter mask and those are not very protective. I would never wear that now. It is crazy to think that people weren’t wearing masks during the pandemic. That’s probably how it got bad. I’m not sure.

Polly: Yes, I agree with you. How about social distancing, traveling, or school? All of a sudden, the whole world shut down and school was online.

Molly: I really liked getting a break from school. But after about a week of doing nothing but Facetiming my friends and doing my phone, it kind of got boring. I wanted to get back into the school schedule. I missed school. I still do. And then the social distancing, I didn’t hang out with my friends for like a month, I think, but then I did go on some bike rides with them. But not very often.

Polly: In the summertime, yeah.

Molly: I do go on bike rides more often now.

Polly: So, a little bit further into the spring, we had been in the pandemic and things had been shut down or closed for a while. Now we are getting to the end of school. You had been distance learning for a couple months. How did you feel about finishing school at home? How did you feel about your trip to Germany to see Sam being cancelled?

Molly: Well, last year when I finished school, the schedule was very flexible. I would start around 9:00 and be done around 10:30. I would just do nothing, like TikTok and Roblox with my friends. On the last day we had an extra Zoom class you could attend but I didn’t because my brother [Teddy from Philly] came home on the last day of school and I wanted to spend time with him so I skipped it and they didn’t do anything. They couldn’t. The school schedule now is way stricter like Zoom classes all day. It does get boring after a while but it is better that it is that way so I can learn more and be more motivated to pay attention. And also, when the pandemic started, we had a trip that we were planning to go visit my brother [Sam] in Germany because that is where he lived at the time, and it got cancelled. That was a little bit of a bummer for us. But luckily, we got to see him this year.

Polly: So, in the summertime—you didn’t really see your friends in the spring at all—then in the summertime you did take a few bike rides.

Molly: Yeah, I think that is because my brother [Teddy] was home and I wanted to spend time with him because I knew he wasn’t going to be back until Christmas. We didn’t really know that at the time because there could have been another huge outbreak and we wouldn’t have gotten to see him.

Polly: Now we are going to go to the summertime. We live pretty close to Minneapolis, we are only about an hour away. And you heard about the killing of George Floyd. Can you talk a little bit about that? You visited the George Floyd memorial this summer. Did social media play a big part in how you learned and processed what happened. And anything you know about the protests—even though there’s a pandemic and you’re a kid—do you feel like you were able to support or contribute at all?

Molly: Well, it was really crazy to me when it all first happened. I don’t know. It was just hard to think that it happened in our state and so close to me and where we live. I don’t know why but I didn’t expect it to not happen but I expected it to happen maybe in a bigger city in California or New York. But it happened in Minneapolis and it was kind of surreal for me. It made me learn more about police brutality and etc.

Polly: Social justice stuff?

Molly: Yeah. I think the only reason I know so much about it and I am sort of educated on it is because of TikTok because a lot people were posting about it and that’s how I found out about George Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter, and the election too. I think if I didn’t have TikTok I wouldn’t be as educated on this topic.

Polly: That’s interesting. Do you feel like you’ve been able to contribute to it or support any of the movements or do you feel like your hands are tied?

Molly: Well, it is hard to contribute as a younger person. I’m a kid still and we don’t really go to protests. We didn’t go to protests. And there’s still some happening. We just chose not to. But we still support what people do and we support the protests. And I support them by reposting stuff on my story and educating people on the topic.

Polly: Now we’re kind of heading towards fall again and school is going to start. We had to make the tough decision to do distance learning instead of the hybrid learning. I want to know how you felt about that in fall. Were you okay with that? You talk about the schedule; I think you preferred the new schedule at that point. Talk a little bit about what your friends told you about hybrid learning. Did kids wear masks in school when it first started? Did they social distance?

Molly’s first day of 7th grade distant learning outside her 7th grade class window

Molly: At first distance learning, it wasn’t really an option. I thought I should do my part and do distance learning to keep my family safe and to be able to see my brothers. Sam wasn’t going to come home but he did end up come home. But to see my brothers at some point and to keep safe and to keep COVID-free. So, I did distance-learning and I think I liked it at the beginning—like the first week—but then it was kind of hard to stay motivated in distance learning. I’ve been trying my best. It’s hard to stay on track and not get distracted because you’re in your home learning and you have distractions like family and pets and your phone. So, this past couple months I’ve been okay at staying motivated to do my work but it has been a little bit harder. But I feel like I’d rather go into hybrid now but it’s safer not to. And there’s only two more months left. So, I might as well just do distance learning.

Polly: Okay. Did your friends ever tell you what it was like being in school?

Molly: In hybrid when it sectioned up so there wouldn’t be so many people in school, I feel like they kept safer when it was hybrid. Now that everyone is back except for the distance learners, which is me and people who are learning like I am, they have gotten more flexible and they don’t really enforce stuff like social distancing. For example, there are these circle tables at school and they are pretty close. Everyone eats at the same time and they could definitely section it up or even eat in the classrooms, but they are eating in the cafeteria and it is only every other seat and most people don’t follow that rule.

Polly: Okay. Can you tell me if you got involved in the Trump/Biden election? And if so, how you got involved?

Molly: Well, I did get a little bit involved but I obviously can’t get too involved because I am not old enough to vote. But I can still support a politician. So, I support Biden. And where we live there is a bunch of people that don’t support Biden or just don’t like what his beliefs are and it was a little bit hard because I was targeted—like kind of harassing me—but I also thought it was kind of funny. They would comment on my TikTok posts that were not related to the election. They would comment “Trump 2020” on just a normal post I would make. I find it funny and I would just ignore it. I don’t know if that is getting involved but…

Polly: You had a Biden sign in your bedroom. A big one.

Molly: Yeah, it was a huge one. I took it down when Biden won. I was going to take it down anyway even if Trump won.

Polly: Okay. The last question, over time a lot of things have been out of your control. You’re a kid. There’s a pandemic. But there’s a few things you’ve learned over the last year that you can control, and if you can talk about that—what you think you’ve been able to control during the pandemic.

Molly: I have been able to control my choices on who to hang out with. And if it is smart idea to hang out with this person. Because you can sometimes know when they are not being safe. I have been pretty smart about that. I also made choices to add a time limit to my phone recently, and to hang out more with my family and friends.

Polly: Okay. I do have one more question. I said that was the last one but this is the last one, I promise. Dad and I have been vaccinated. Teddy’s been vaccinated. Grandpa has, and hopefully you will be soon.

Molly: And my friends.

Polly: And your friends. Hopefully everyone we know who is going to get vaccinated, gets vaccinated. Do you think things will go back to normal? Or do you think life is going to be different to some degree?

Molly: I don’t just think COVID will be over. I think it’s going to turn out over time, obviously, like the flu where you get the choice to get the flu vaccination every year. I feel like COVID is going to be more mysterious. I do feel like it is going to get back to normal for me a little bit. I will still wear my mask in the store and stuff but when I do get my vaccination, and also the rest of my family, and also my friends, that will be a real life changer for me because I will finally be able to have hangouts with them and I won’t have to social distance and wear a mask, and I can maybe even have a sleepover with them.

Polly: Well, thank you very much. I love you.

Molly: Bye.