We spoke to parents who disagree with their partners on mask wearing, vaccination, travel, and more to find out how they’re navigating these differences of opinion
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images You know how some couples claim they “never fight”? Yeah, they’re lying. Whether it’s at a hushed volume, through a fake smile and gritted teeth, or in the occasional knock-down drag-out yelling match, every pair does it.
“My husband is normal and sane. I’m the batshit one.” —Leila*, 45, Chicago, mother to a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old I have a history of health-related anxiety — so clearly, the pandemic has not been good for me or my mental health. My background is in public health, and rationally I know I don’t need to sanitize everything, for instance. But I still want to sanitize everything.
The biggest issue is that I would like to visit my family in Florida for a couple of weeks and go to a wedding there this winter. My husband is very hesitant about that, since he says Florida doesn’t think COVID-19 exists, and he doesn’t want to put himself and his family in the position of being there. And he’s not sure what we’ll be able to do with our son while we’re there because he’ll want to restrict where we go a lot more than I’ll want to. So it’s been a big debate.
The reluctance to go to Florida, however, is very frustrating. We are living in an amazing bubble here in Brooklyn, so I get the hesitation given how Florida is handling the pandemic. But it makes me feel like he doesn’t trust the judgment of my family and friends — or my judgment. We’ve since compromised on going down for a shorter time, which has helped with the strain.