COVID-19

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This phrase is well known by many of us, right? When you find yourself in a difficult situation, try to find something positive in it. And it’s true, especially nowadays in this unknown situation, when people keep looking for ideas which can help entertain their families in social distance, be in touch with their friends without being close physically. I would like to share a few activities we have enjoyed lately in spite of the circumstances.

We have friends and family who live far away from us. We’ve decided to have a story time together with our friends who live far away, and it was pretty fun. So first we had a conversation by Skype. We were looking for some interesting books. One of my children’s friends loves unicorns and she has an interesting and funny story about a pony that desired to be a pink magical unicorn. At the end of the story, she realized it was best for her to be herself. My daughter liked the idea, so one story was chosen. Then we looked for the second book. My daughter likes “Pete The Cat Stories”. We found “My white shoes” pretty cool and a good story. This story is about Pete the cat who has white shoes, but every time he steps in a pile of blueberries or strawberries or mud, his shoes changing colours. This cat doesn’t get upset that his shoes are ruined. Instead, he can find something good in every situation. Frankly, I enjoy a story time with my kids as well. First, we spend a great time together, second of all, it is amazing that we can spend some time with our friends, and in addition, I can improve my English. We suggested to our friends who live close to read stories together by Skype or Zoom too. So, we are looking forward to doing it. I think it is one of the great activities kids can enjoy with their friends even if they cannot meet them.

My friend suggested that we bake together. We haven’t done it yet, but we are going to do it as soon as possible. However, I baked a delicious dessert with my mom online. It was funny and pretty nice. My parents live in another country and they are normally pretty busy, but now they have more free time. We try to enjoy it together. Baking is not my cup of tea; I prefer buying cakes from a good bakery. But now it was impossible, so I wanted to surprise my husband with something delicious for his birthday. Kids helped to find nice recipes and we baked it together. My mother in her kitchen and my kids and me in ours. One dessert was not a success at all. My mom thought that we had put too much sour cream. But the second one was really good. It was a French dessert called éclair - with caramel cream and chocolate sauce. I couldn’t believe I could bake it pretty much by myself, of course, with my mom’s instructions from a distance.

In addition, we signed up our children for online classes. My son enjoys different activities and lessons online. He meets new friends from different places, and they even send letters to each other which I find amazing.

We even had Birthday parties at a distance! We enjoy celebrating birthdays with our friends and neighbours. We can draw pictures and sing songs and we do it from a distance.

So, even though, it is definitely a hard time for all of us, let’s keep finding some great things to do - no matter what!