What a few months it has been. Since stay-at-home orders took effect in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every person’s life in the Upper Valley — and beyond — has been impacted in ways big and small. That’s especially true for children, who switched to remote learning and had performances and sports canceled, among other activities.
To say the pandemic has put a lot of strain on families is an understatement, but people have also worked hard to find moments of joy. In this edition of Valley Parents, we explore what children and parents have been doing to keep their spirits up during stay-at-home orders and remote learning.
“The biggest thing I would love to keep from this is extra time to spend with my kids,” Heather Walz, a mother of three children ages 4-13, told Valley Parents correspondent Kelly Burch.
Hanover High School student Wes Stocken exchanged video games for outdoor projects, including building mountain biking trails and replacing a culvert.
“He was never inside again. It was like a light switch flipped. I think he just finally realized that maybe there’s more to life than gaming,” his mother, Mary Beth Stocken, told Burch.
Lorin Durand noticed her daughter Cordelia was spending too much time on YouTube, but — recognizing the way being online connected the 13-year-old with her peers — turned it into an educational opportunity.
“I wanted her to be more of a digital producer and not just a consumer,” Durand said about the YouTube videos Cordelia is now producing.
The pandemic has also placed a greater emphasis on independent play and the need for children to entertain themselves when parents are working or otherwise occupied.
“We’ve built these hectic lifestyles, so kids are used to having their play packaged up for them. They don’t necessarily have time to just explore,” said Jessica Laperle, the manager of patient experience at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and a certified child life specialist whose children are 10 and 14. “My own children had to relearn how to play.”
It’s another lesson many have learned from the pandemic.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
