I saw a child today! A young boy dressed in blue wrapped in safety gear, coal black helmet flashing the sunlight into my eyes. Slamming his foot into the pedals again and again, and again. He pushed against imagined competitors, racing down an abandoned street in his cul-de-sac. A quick turn, he attacked a small ramp, briefly catching air. Challenging his own balance, he victoriously raised his arms into the air reveling as the crowds cheered in the imaginary stands.
During my work from home, I have been walking daily through the cul-de-sacs near my home. There are miles and miles of cul-de-sacs. Cul-de-sacs that were built in the 50’s and 60’s; they were built for children, families. These cul-de-sacs are blessed with dead end, narrow winding streets that slow traffic and invite biking, and yards big enough to play and close enough to chat with neighbors from your garden–the perfect children’s haven.
Yet for several weeks, there have been no children. Whenever I walk, whether it is morning or evening, there has not been a child in sight-no bouncing balls, no bikes, no play yard squabbles. You might think they are all at school. But it’s April 2020, schools are closed. From baby playgroups to college campuses, schools are closed. Perhaps the children are all inside in their google classrooms and Zoom meetings? Perhaps they are plugged into video games or TV or movies-while their parents work from home? All day? Every day?
I saw a child today! As an educator, parent, grandparent this is a surreal comment during any Spring in my lifetime. I’ve lived my life with young children. Today, I am living in area where Corvid-19 is active and spreading. We wear masks outside our home and minimize our contact with others. The idea that a pandemic locks children away-even from their own backyards in a suburban track development is frightening.
It has been one of the prettiest, mildest Springs in New England-and the children are all inside! Children who need to move, dance, fall, spin and balance on logs. They need fresh air, the sun on their skin and the wind in their hair while they swing and ride bikes.
Please parents take your children outside! When you went to the office you built time into your morning to get them dressed, and drive them to daycare or school. Take that same 30 minutes and get them outside! Even in their pajamas, walk in neighborhood, do somersaults, ride your bikes. Let them fall down, show them how they can recover, explore a puddle or find a bug-but please get them outside.
And if you really can’t go outside because your neighborhood is unsafe or you have a shelter in place or quarantine order: open the curtains, open the windows, let in the air and the sun and the Springtime! We all need to see children today.