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As the coronavirus lockdown measures enter its eighth month, many parents have had to adjust to a new work-life balance. Working or studying from home while looking after your children isn't easy for anyone, and quite frankly, parents deserve a medal for keeping their families functioning during these difficult times. But it seems that some moms still can't catch a break, even in this 'new normal' way of living.

Marcella Mares, a California mom to a ten-month-old baby, was shamed by her professor for breastfeeding during an online class. She expressed her disappointment in a Facebook post, together with a picture showing her breastfeeding while studying (what a superhero!). Before the incident, her professor informed her and her fellow Fresno City College students that in order to receive credit for attending the class, they were required to keep their cameras and microphones on. Marcella emailed him, expressing that she was happy to do so but that she "Might need to turn them off to feed my daughter from time to time". Instead of her professor being understanding of her situation, he replied, "That's not what you should be doing during class. Do that on your own time."

After ignoring his shocking response, she opened the zoom class, where her professor announced, "I got this really weird email from a student stating she needed to do inappropriate things during lecture time. You guys need to understand that you have priorities now, and you need to put all those distractions aside or be creative when your child needs you and give your full attention in my class."

Of course, his response was utterly inappropriate, leaving Marcella feeling heartbroken and with no choice but to take the appropriate action against him and his clear discrimination. I can't imagine he is a parent himself, or he would have understood the kick-a** job this mother was doing by balancing parenthood with furthering her education. Breastfeeding is a natural and beautiful thing and not something that can be 'time-managed'.  When your baby is hungry, that's when you breastfeed and to be shamed into choosing between feeding your baby and getting an education is, quite frankly, shocking, especially in the current circumstances. Luckily, the internet jumped to Marcella's defense, leaving her hundreds of supportive comments. Check out her post and some of the responses below.

The past six months have been a strange time of adjustment for everyone. Overnight, we had to give up many aspects of our everyday life that we took for granted, such as seeing friends, eating in restaurants, and going to work or school. However, thanks to modern technology, we entered an era where taking classes or work calls from your lounge's comfort became the new normal, and wearing a formal top and pajama pants became the new dress code. But as useful as online classes and meetings have been, they come with certain risks, like all technology. Many people fell victim to forgetting to turn off their cameras and microphones when they thought they had, which led to some pretty awkward situations. Read some of them below, as teachers and students share their best 'forgot to turn off the mic' story during virtual learning stories. Online learning is cool and all, but CHECK YOUR MICS, people!

Online learning is something students and teachers alike have had to get used to over the past month or so. It's become the new normal and it definitely has its ups and downs. Being able to attend class from your bed (as a student of course) is great, but teaching from the other side of a screen isn't that easy. But nestled amongst frustrating parts are some pretty wholesome moments and the teachers of Reddit came together to share some of them.  Here are the best ones, below. 

I am a pasta lover. Personally, I consider it the food of the gods and I eat it at least three times a week, in all its glorious variations. Sadly, pasta has become somewhat of a commodity nowadays, since supermarket shelves are being cleared out due to panic-buying. The silver lining? Now is the perfect time to try and make your own, especially with all this extra time on our hands. Yes, you could follow a recipe book, but what if you could take a live-streaming video class from an 84-year-old Italian nonna, using a generations-old recipe? Well luckily for you, you can! Nonna Nerina (Nonna means grandma in Italian), who usually hosts pasta-cooking classes in her home is now running them online due to the coronavirus containment measures in Italy and it's wonderful. Forget your online fitness classes; this is much more fun! Here's how it works...