Coronavirus......Time to say well done!

“Mummy, my friends will be missing me by now”.

If ever there was a sentence that would make me sad, that was it.

The innocence of a 3 year old acknowledging the different path life has taken at the moment.

He is lucky enough to belong to a wonderful pre school and has some brilliant fun friends, but then one day in March his little routine of getting up, having breakfast, heading to pre school, having fun with his friends and then returning home to tell us all about it, (with a little coaxing!), had gone.

The first few days were ok for him. He didn’t go to pre school everyday so he assumed it was just a home day, but as the days have gone by he has started to realise things aren’t quite the same!

We found some great resources to explain what Coronavirus is, how we can help stop the spread of the germs and why schools are closed. All material was aimed at his age group and he understood perfectly that we must stay at home and wash our hands!

As many of you know, a day is a long time in a 3 year old’s world so I can imagine I am not alone when I say our bundle of energy, after 3 weeks of isolation, is now starting to yearn for his former life!

We do exciting activities everyday, he plays with his siblings, runs around our garden and watches television but nothing can take the place of social interaction with his peers.

We have face timed his friend and I’m not sure if the two 3 year olds or the 2 Mums listening to their chat had more fun. It was so sweet but sad at the same time as they both just wanted a play date!

I feel for our older two children too. They are 12 and 14 and have a much better idea of what all this means. However, they too have seen their routine grind to a sudden halt. One week they were at school, enjoying the company of their dear friends, abiding by the rules, (most of the time I hope!), and the next having no contact with their friends, other than through social media, and having to adjust to their classroom being our dining room with the only classmate they had was each other.

Their school has been amazing with online learning and lots of support but it took a few days for them to be completely happy with their current educational environment.

We have now begun the Easter holidays and what a strange time! We were at Centre Parks a year ago but now we are not allowed to visit even a local attraction. As adults, my Husband and I have adapted quite well. Although at times, especially reading or watching the news, it feels like we are living in some kind of apocalyptic film, we have ignored that fact and concentrated on what we can do to enjoy our time at home. Luckily the weather has been kind, the garden has never looked so good and we are able to spend quality time together. However, I still worry about our children. I am a Mum, so naturally there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about what I can do to help all 3 of them, but this is a different kind of challenge.

They are happy and healthy which is all we can ask for as parents but I do think we should give them credit for handling this situation so well. These young people are the next generation. As we know only too well, right now we have people working to save lives and are true heroes.. No one has ever lived through such a stressful time since the 2nd world war. I remember the inconvenience of a blackout in the 1970s as a young child but that’s about it. Everyone in our NHS, supermarkets, delivery services and many more are experiencing what it really means to be on the frontline and needed. My children are observing all of this, which will hopefully make them aspire to be heroes too.

THAT is the positive in all of this…… we have people who make us proud and we have people who are an inspiration to the next generation.

I salute all our working heroes but I also take my hat off to our children, who are doing so well to manage their emotions and accept the situation they find themselves in. I am there to reassure my children, home school them and, most importantly, have fun with them. No one will forget 2020 but we will all look back and be proud of how we all coped.

We must believe there WILL be an end to this. We will come through this. We will be stronger and appreciate life more. For now we have to support our young, our elderly and our heroes.

Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives.

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