There have long been few things as mysterious to a parent as what goes on during their child's school day. Trying to crack your child open at the end of the day to get at the details is akin to breaking into Fort Knox: You wind up with a whole lot of nothing.

And then along came a pandemic and with it a world turned upside down.

Remote schooling is no picnic, least of all for parents who are struggling to survive, and most definitely not for America's moms. Hybrid and fully remote school models and closed daycares have largely pushed women out of the workforce and back into the home to bear the brunt of childcare.

This is not easy either on the teachers who have had to learn to do more with less time and through computer screens.

So I say the following with a sense of all that has been lost and all that continues to be.

Remote school has given some parents something special: a window into a new world, the world of their children's relationship with their teachers.

Most of us went through school ourselves and remember that special teacher or teachers, the one(s) who truly “got” us and helped shape us into who we are.

But parents have long been held at arms' length from these relationships, aware only on the most superficial level that other adults are giving our kids something extra special.

For years I'd heard of one of these teachers at my daughter's school, someone fun and quirky, someone who gave their time to lend guidance and look over homework, someone my kid could talk to.

I was grateful for their presence, sure, but not entirely clued into the extent of this teacher's generosity and special place in our local high school. Nothing was hidden, of course. It was simply filtered through the after school conversations common to parents and kids, in which we traditionally learn that our children did “nothing” for six hours straight.

That's changed. Thanks to a computer in my dining room and a remote schooling daughter, I now realize this teacher is part cheerleader, part advisor to my child. They lift my daughter up when my daughter is down. They offer advice. They encourage. They are the educational partner every parent needs and every child deserves.

It doesn't fix a pandemic or make up for all the terrible things that have happened in the past year. But boy does it make me hopeful for our future.