03 Apr 2020  |   04:25am IST

Kids and lockdown: How does that combo work?

The closing of schools two months prior to the actual summer vacation, to beat the Coronavirus became a task for many parents as their children lost freedom playing outdoors and meeting friends. Café spoke to a few parents and children on how they managed their lockdown- time

Pauline D’Mello,

‘Lockdown’?  What a trauma! Just sit in the four walls is a big no for most of the children, but it is a compulsion due to the spread of deadly virus COVID-19. With the lockdown, indeed the biggest challenge is when parents have their children around and both at home locked wherein the question that arises among the parents is, now what do we do?

 

Well, children do have various hobbies or activities that they can master at this particular period with their inborn abilities or taking help from various online websites staying indoors. A mother of two from Calangute, Jill Rodrigues expressed, “Both my children find their own interest. It can be from making dresses with an old cloth, painting an old bottle to make it look like an ice cream, to designing a new space ship all these are their own ideas. There are a few sites that are meant for children, but in today's age, if the children find their own interest like how it used to be in the past, that’s a big help. Painting, drawing, designing something of old cartoons are all things they can do. From what I see, most of the ideas are from their own observation and not much from online.”

 

Dr Sweta Gandhi is unable to spend most of her time at home due to the ongoing scenario, yet she has made it a point to keep her two kids busy in all ways possible as she said, “ Lockdown is a great learning experience for all of us, we now understand the importance of freedom. My son Shourya and daughter Shrivalli study in CBSE school and they were all set for a new academic year scheduled mid-March but it was canceled. But nothing changed as teachers were available on WhatsApp sending worksheets and providing topics with online links. I too made a time table for both like drawing, sketch work and reading from chosen children’s websites. My daughter still continues with her Bharatanatyam and chess classes as her mentors are available on video chats.”

 

The most rewarding lockdown skills are those children who can master on their own. While many children have a lot of confusion going around in their minds, at this time their parents come to their rescue. Riya Halankar a student of class 7 expressed that her mother helped her out as she said, “Drawing, painting, and sketching is a normal routine that most of my friends follow, but with my mother’s help I  carried out some activities which were out of the box, I tried my hands in cooking. I tried making chapatis where I messed it up several times but never gave up. I also learned to chop vegetables and it was fun. I also made a kitchen garden in my backyard and I take care of it daily. I learned many house organizing techniques on YouTube and made pillows and quilts too using old cloth, available at home.”

 

A proper time table helps them to have a proper flow of activities that they desire to do on day to day basis, Ryan Rodrigues a class 3 ICSE student maintains a hobby time table so that he can give equal time for each activity as he says, “Every morning along with my elder sister Riya I study for an hour followed by cleaning the house, keeping me physically active. Playing my violin is, in turn, keeping my mind occupied. I am also vegetable farming. My sister is occupied helping my mother in the kitchen, learning mathematics from a learning app connected to the television and dancing.” 

 

Drawing, painting, and craft is the most common activity of children during their free time. They either pour their imagination onto the blank white paper or copy from somewhere. Ferrer Furtado from Raia, studying at Manovikas English Medium School, Margao, paints through the days of lockdown, with his imagination and paintbrush in hand which keeps him busy and happy.

 

So children can be a handful. If handled and guided well, they can, not just give you a helping hand, but develop skills and hobbies, with so much time at hand.