The Atlantic Parents feel the daily strains of this pandemic especially acutely. Plus: How should you behave if only some of your household is vaccinated? March 11, 2021 Last summer, as the pandemic raged on, my colleague Sophie Gilbert became a parent. It was the hardest thing she’s ever done. “Other than my husband, not a single person I love has really seen me being a mother,” she writes in an extraordinary essay. “This new person I’ve become since I gave birth is a person virtually no one knows.” With the birth of her twins, Sophie joined the millions of parents who, a year into this pandemic, are raising kids at a time when access to support, such as child care or just a loved one who can lend an extra hand, remains frustratingly limited.