Selena Hardy

This summer, the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, and Albuquerque Public Schools are working together to ensure every child 1-18 years old has free Grab & Go access to meals. They are available Monday – Friday,  11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., until early August.

We started visiting the APS Grab & Go lunch sites a few months ago. It gave my girls something to look forward to, and gave me an excuse to get them out of their jammies. When school “ended” and summer “started,” I was thoroughly confused about the status of our neighborhood lunch site.

I found the Summer 2020 Serving Sites Google map is the best way to find a lunch site near you (no matter which organization is serving there). It’s easy to use on a phone or computer. Pro tip: do not turn off the APS sites listed! Originally, I incorrectly thought those were carried over from the school year and couldn’t understand why there wasn’t a lunch site nearby.

I highly recommend stopping by one of the 20 Story Time in the Park locations. From June 8 – July 16,Monday – Thursday, teachers distribute free bags of new books and reading materials to families at various Grab & Go lunch sites. Reading with your kiddos over the summer gives you the opportunity to connect and also helps prevent summer learning loss. Stop by if you can!

Remember to wear your mask while picking up food, no matter if you’re in a car, on a bike or walking by.

Follow the links below for more information about your neighborhood Grab & Go lunch site:

• The City of Albuquerque provides meals in city community centers, parks, schools, apartment complexes, public housing, churches and at non-profit organizations.
  • Rhubarb and Elliot is serving lunch at 21 community center sites. Here is a list of their delivery routes.
  • Visit the City’s website or call 3-1-1 for menus and more information.
• The Bernalillo County Summer Lunch Program provides meals at 22 community centers, parks, and county facilities in unincorporated parts of Bernalillo County that are outside Albuquerque city limits.
• Albuquerque Public Schools provides meals at 10 APS schools.

I am not sure who has had more video chats during quarantine, me or my three-year-old. She checks in with her school three times a week, calls one set of grandparents just about every day, and then there are her friends and cousins. Although it is a far cry from the social interactions she knew before “The Big Bad Cold” (our family’s name for C-19), video chatting has provided an outlet to connect with others. Imagine all that we learned from our first video chat with 20 preschoolers all unmuted, or how carsick it makes grandma when my girls want to run around with the phone showing her things.

Here are a few toddler and teleconferences best practices we’ve picked up:

• 30 minutes max
  • Video chats live in Distraction City and my three-year-old has the attention-span of… well a three-year-old. We have found that a 30-minute limit for any type of call is just right.
• Include an activity or two
  • Use your Albuquerque and Bernalillo County Public Library card to log on to the Libby app, and check out books to read together by sharing the screen. This is a grandparent approved activity.
  • Scavenger hunts are a hit. “Find something red!” “Find something square!”
  • My kiddos and their cousins loved playing with play dough together and showing each other what they were making.
• Use the mute button
  • It is 100% okay to mute yourself (and your kids). Kiddos are naturally noisy creatures. For Mother’s Day on a family video chat, we were on mute half the time just so others could hear each other. 
• Don’t let the kids run around with the phone
  • My 16-month-old thinks it is hilarious to bop the phone repeatedly then crack up laughing. My three-year-old wants to show you everything but doesn’t fully understand how the camera works, and my mom will end a call quickly if she starts getting carsick. Be thoughtful before you hand over the phone. 

Playdates and preschool are still up in the air for many of us, and connecting to one another is important. We are thankful for the ability to share a piece of our day with those we care about from the safety of our own home so that we don’t share any germs.