Making the best of the Covid–19 lockdown | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Making the best of the Covid–19 lockdown

12 July, 2020

As the country went into lockdown, children found themselves with an indefinite holiday. A few days later, many schools started online classes and sent study packs, but still the children were faced with an unusual situation. They had much free time with the added bonus of having parents and the whole family at home, but were restricted and could not hang out with friends or visit them and relatives. But children are resilient and resourceful, and they found their own creative solutions to the lockdown.

We feature here how some of these children spent lockdown creatively and fruitfully.

 

How I spent the lockdown

Well it has been two whole months since we have gone to lockdown and also two months since ‘Big Match’ ended. Well, at first I thought it was going to be fun, no more work and exams to study for, just extra leisure time and a swamping holiday ahead. Two weeks passed and it became mind-numbing, there was nothing to do. I used to get up late, watch movies or play the PS4, until I got the breaking newsflash‘study packs available and must be completed’. It just crumbled my entire day and I knew I’m heading for an ‘adventure’ with deadlines ahead.

Days went by and nothing was going to change and social distancing was a must. Besides, all I heard my parents talking about was finding ways to stock food and how the numbers of Covid-19 patients were increasing. So, together with my classmate who is my neighbour we came up with this brilliant idea, ‘balcony DJ battle war’, so basically, it’s where one team plays different music and in return the group from the other balcony has to be ready to play a hit song whilst dancing. It was so much fun we have endorsed it ever since to continue this every Friday of each week.

Now, I know it’s breaking the rules, but after being so bored at home 24-7, I intentionally broke the rule and went out to ride my bike, of course, with the precaution of a mask. It was satisfactory at first but every now and then I had to rush back inside, as the police patrol jeeps do their rounds in the neighborhood which was an electrifying experience.

In addition, during the curfew period I had been able to spend more time with my family and likewise engage in helping out in household matters and also ended up rearranging my room. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope this pandemic will end and we can get back to our normal lives. I miss my time in school, my sports and my friends but I must not overlook to stay that I do love the late wake ups and late nights playing games.

Stay safe everyone!

Mckyle Karunaratne,

13 yrs

S. Thomas' College,

Mt. Lavinia.

 

Coronavirus Pandemic

The pandemic brought us a scary time

Which made us forget our wonderful time

In one way it produces a good time

To have ourselves some family time.

It also brought us several deaths

Which also taught us the consequence

To wash our hands and stay clean

And never give up on our hygiene.

Curfew, lockdown and all the laws

Only when the virus draws

Like a prison with all the walls

No more fun time in the malls.

Let's get together to fight the cause

With all the weapons without a pause

Like all the animals with their claws

To win the game of peaceful walks.

 

Natalie Dulakshi Fernandopulle,

Grade 10,

St. Bridget's Convent,

Colombo 7.

 

Lockdown helped me do more homework

LOCKDOWN, does this sound a big holiday for me? Yes, it was and I planned fun and crazy things to do knowing there were no early morning wake ups anymore.

But there it was.! A few days down the line I received the news that the school was sending us study packs. That totally tumbled down all my crazy plans. First,it was passable with getting one study pack, then day by day those study packs kept coming, I literally fainted. This only continued with online classes.“Seriously! Could this get any better?”.

Well, we had two hours of class work each day and then I did a little bit of my crazy planning during the rest of the day. I did random silly stuff. I exceeded my limits and literally climbed a tall pillar and touched the ceiling. Then, my father decided to bring a 25 kg bag of flour due to lockdown asking me to cook and I thought of baking. I cooked so much that my family expanded to the next size. I made pizza, biscuit pudding, birthday cakes, cookies, bread, hotcross buns, dinner buns, cupcakes and so much more. I shared these with my neighbours and thought why not make it more special and gave it a name on a delivery box called, ‘Mckaella’s Bakes’.

In fact, with this I got a liking for cooking. For 'Mother’s Day' I made special meals giving my mother a break from her routine. So, things actually got better as the days went by.

Every evening my brother and I with other children in the neighborhood rode our bikes, but we were very alert for the police because we were breaking the rules but it was fun.

Weeks passed and I could only find new things to do since ‘early to bed’ by mom was not a problem any more,

All in all I miss school and my friends but I am loving lockdown and I hope we get extra holidays!!!

 

Mckaella Karunaratne,

9 years, Ladies College,

Colombo.

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