A husband has been given the ultra-rare opportunity to say “I told you so” to his wife, but considering the terrifying circumstances, he likely won’t be rubbing this triumph in her face anytime soon.
The unnamed man recently wrote in to an online advice column expressing his concern about his wife’s decision to take their young daughter to what she insisted was a “safe” play group, despite the ongoing outbreak. Unfortunately for him, his concerns soon proved entirely justified after his little girl started showing symptoms of COVID-19.
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In his first letter sent on March 25, the man explains he and his wife are seriously disagreeing on social distancing measures.
Submitted to Slate’s Care and Feeding advice column, he says he’s “annoyed” by his wife’s insistence on taking their three children (2, 4, and 6 years old, respectively) to a kindergarten play group.
“I am upset because we are in a state that has issued a stay-at-home order, and I am worried the kids will unnecessarily catch the virus,” the man explains, adding that his wife has defended her decision to take the kids to another person’s home because she trusts it is “safe” and sanitized.
At this particular play group, the younger children play together in one room while the kindergarten-aged kids receive lessons from a parent who used to be a teacher.
The man expressed his conflicted feelings, since he knows his eldest daughter would certainly benefit from continued education, something which his wife also used as reason for bringing her to the play group in the first place.
“She states that our daughter, who is not a strong reader, needs continued education in a classroom setting to set her up for success in school.”
Despite his wife being adamant that the children’s risk of catching the virus was low, the man has since penned an upsetting update to the advice column.
In his new letter , which was shared on April 15, the man revealed that his wife did eventually relent and decided to stop sending their children to the play group after seeing the response his original letter had received.
However, this decision proved far too late.
Four days after the couple agreed to keep their kids away from the play group, one of the other moms reported her own child had tested positive for the virus.
This has unfortunately lead to an outbreak within the group. Out of the eight kindergartners and 10 siblings who have attended, “six kindergartners and seven little siblings showed symptoms of COVID-19 within a week,” the man reported.
Among those showing symptoms include two of his own children, the 4-year-old and his 6-year-old daughter.
Now this dad is fearing the worst, as he’s positive the virus will continue to spread and infect every member of his family.
“My 4-year-old has asthma, and we are terrified,” he explained. “We can’t even relax for a second because we’ll hear one of our kids struggling to breathe and have to rush to their side to make sure they’re not dying.”
He sadly reported that one little girl from the play group is faring far worse than the other infected children.
“The first play group kid to get it, a little 5-year-old girl, was taken to the hospital yesterday and is fighting for her life,” the man wrote. “The doctor said there is a good chance she will not survive this, as she has some kind of condition that made her more susceptible to COVID-19 complications.”
He explained other children who have the virus are progressing to the point where they’ll likely require hospitalization soon.
Understandably, the man says his wife is “beating herself up” for having ever taken their children to the play group in the first place.
But she’s not the only one. He said he’s frustrated at himself for not putting his foot down from the beginning, and for allowing her to take their kids despite his concerns and gut instinct to keep them home.
As he wrote, “All of this happened so that the kids could have learned a week of reading from a first grade teacher in a group setting, instead of from a first grade teacher over Zoom.”
While the man’s first letter was meant to garner advice, his second is meant to act as a warning to other parents.
“I and my wife will regret these events for the rest of our lives, even if all of our kids pull through it like it was a cold,” he wrote.
“Please stay inside, and remember that your children’s safety should always come first over anything else.”
