The calendar says it’s mid-May, but honestly, it may as well be August already! Most of us are going stir crazy, social distancing at home while we juggle our jobs and our kids’ distance learning.
Fortunately, celebrity Jewish parents are right here with us — many have taken to Instagram to share inside peeks on what lockdown is like in their homes. We’ve seen Alex Borstein wash and re-use plastic wrap in quarantine, and Jewish stars from Beanie Feldstein to Natalie Portman celebrate their moms on social media for Mother’s Day.
Next up to make our long, repetitive days just a little bit more joyful? Jewish dad Max Greenfield, the actor best known for his iconic role as Schmidt on New Girl. Throughout the quarantine, Greenfield has posted hilarious — and hilariously relatable! — photos and videos of himself and his 11-year-old daughter, Lilly, as they work on her virtual assignments together. (Greenfield and his wife, Tessa Sanchez, also have a younger son, Ozzie.)
Greenfield shared his first post on the subject on March 16 — which we are guessing was Lilly’s first day of distance learning. It’s a picture of Lilly looking at what appears to be a hand-drawn number line, and it’s captioned, simply, “God Help Us All.”
The fun just continues from there. The subsequent posts showcase Greenfield’s emerging quarantine style: a Carhartt beanie, a black sweatshirt, and, of course, a mustache. Also on point: his loving and sarcastic commentary: “One of us needed a calculator,” Greenfield notes on March 20, nodding to the fact that even fifth-grade math skills can be challenging for adults.
Later, Greenfield shares a screenshot of a message that Lilly sent to her teacher: “hi my dad is having trouble reading the birchbark house and i am having trouble undersaning it [sic].” He hilariously captions the post: “Just in case you were wondering what bottom looks like.”
Soon, Greenfield graduates to videos of the two of them tackling Lilly’s assignments; they’re usually sitting at a desk with a laptop computer. In one post, as Lilly zones out, Greenfield calls her out for doing TikTok dances instead of her homework as he sits beside her — and if that’s not the most tween thing ever, we don’t know what is.
On April 1, Greenfield lovingly watches his daughter work on her homework as she sings the popular TikTok clip of Dua Lipa’s song “Don’t Start Now.” When Greenfield joins in singing, Lilly tells him: “Dad, stop. You have a dogshit voice.” (OK — that’s the most tween thing ever.)
In Greenfield’s most recent and relatable video, we see him quizzing Lilly on math, history, and English. Like many preteens, she begins each answer with, “So, basically…” The clip ends with Greenfield looking directly at the camera, giving the audience a smug yet loving look.
A constant throughout his posts? Greenfield’s presence, for starters — he is literally sitting beside Lilly as she does her work — as well as his loving persistence, showing his true colors as a caring Jewish dad.
More than anything, however, his posts reminds us that we are not alone with these unprecedented struggles of schooling from home, and that what matters most is supporting our kids the best we can. Not to mention, our kids can be pretty hilarious.
