They’re accused of being glued to gadgets, wasting all their time online and refusing to go out and work on their social skills. But on Children’s Day this year, let’s cut them some slack, shall we? They’re kids after all and have been struggling to cope with a pandemic.
Even then many children have made the best of the way things have turned out. Some have become great chefs over the past year-and-half, others have picked up coding and are building mobile apps, playing electric guitars and started YouTube channels. But even those who are yet to achieve such greatness are to be cherished, supported and encouraged, especially on November 14.
“Kids have been worst hit by the pandemic. Adults have faced financial losses but can adjust by rationalising their standard of living somewhat. But how will children get back these lost years that are to be their foundation,” asks Rakesh Gupta, a resident of Balaka Abasan and father of nine-year-old Devansh.
Lack of exercise
Gupta says that his son had started putting on weight since his scope of physical activities had disappeared in the pandemic. “He had no choice but to stare at a screen for online classes all day, after which his eyes would look small and red. So a fortnight ago, we resumed his football lessons,” he says.
Protip Chakraborty of Sunrise Symphony says all the Swiggy and Zomato meals during the lockdown had made their son Prithwish’s clothes snug. “It was the same for my wife and me so the three of us have started morning walks now and have bought two cycles for mom and son to go biking up to Owl More in the afternoons.”
A preteen from Salt Lake’s Sector III boasts of the lockdown skill he has acquired. “Others have learnt to draw, cook and code, but do you know my talent?” he asks. “I can watch YouTube 24 hours a day!” When his parents aren’t watching, he starts gaming in the backdrop of online classes too, he admits, requesting not to be named to avoid trouble.
Parents of toddlers have been going bonkers trying to keep them busy. “We actually shifted from Salt Lake’s AE Block to DLF New Town Heights as there are some activity options for Shloke here,” says his mother Saimantika Munshi. “When the lockdown began he was four and hyper active. But all the play zones, Nicco and Eco parks were shut. At our new complex he at least has options like art, karate, football and baby gym to choose from.”
No one to play with
Many a parent of “lockdown babies” complain that their kids cry upon seeing new people as the only humans they have seen for more than a year are their parents.
“We are taking Sanbed to the park now,” says Baisakhi Sarkar of Karunamoyee. Sanbed was born at the peak of the first lockdown. “He longs to join the other kids in the play pens but we cannot let him as he’s too small to put a mask on. Play schools are also out of the question although an environment like that would have helped him make friends, get toilet trained and learn educative tools like using play dough and building blocks. We are doing what we can at home but we aren’t professionals.”
Neha Singh of FE Block has two sons aged 15 and six. “The younger one has neither seen nor has any concept of what a traditional school is and he keeps asking when he can go to school. The bonding with online classmates is limited and it was heart-breaking when we celebrated his birthday but none of his friends turned up. Since his elder brother has spent years with his classmates face-to-face, they are close and came for his birthday,” Singh says.
Eleven-year-old Prithwish moved to back to Calcutta during the pandemic but he’s still enrolled in his Bangalore school. “Neither could he meet his classmates in person nor could he go down to play with kids his age in our complex. They would only communicate over multiplayer games like Minecraft and Call of Duty,” says dad Protip. “But what’s noteworthy is that even after the lockdown has lifted these kids do not want to go down to play. They have got used to gaming and don’t feel the need for face-to-face interaction.”
But is online interaction taking a toll on friendship? A 12-year-old of Sector 1 rues that her school friends did not wish her on her birthday this year. A Sector III boy wanted to meet his friends so badly that he went ahead and invited them home for his birthday without informing his parents who, of course, had to call off the party due to fear of Covid, and break his heart.
Virtual friends are enough
Lack of socialisation hasn’t wrecked havoc everywhere though. For five-year-old Arhemm Paik, the first day of lockdown was just another day. He never felt the difference as he has always been home-schooled. “Now that the situation has improved, we are taking him on nature walks and museums. He hasn’t suffered,” says mother Shahla Siddiqui, a resident of Sunny Fort.
Sabitri Chakraborty says her nine-year-old daughter has not once asked when school will reopen. “She has a very close friend with whom she has kept in touch. If anything, the frequency of their sleepovers has increased so Eesha isn’t complaining,” says the AJ Block resident.
The Sector III boy has been dreading the day schools reopen. “I don’t want to go back and if they really do reopen, I’ll go to school and tell them I have corona so they close down and we all return to the virtual world,” he jokes.
Joie Bose, mother of a 10-year-old, says digital communication is what defines this generation. “Previously the kids would meet only when we adults arranged for a meeting. But now they meet online everyday to play games. My son is now closer to his friend who lives six houses away than he was before the pandemic,” she says.
What’s keeping them busy
In the time saved from not having to commute to school and tuitions, the kids are doing a lot.
Eleven-year-old Priyam Chakrabarti has become a Satyajit Ray aficionado. “In the lockdown I would watch Ray movies daily in the afternoon and at night,” says the boy from CK Block. “I’ve learnt coding and my artwork has improved a lot too.”
Eesha Dutta, a nine-year-old from AJ Block, has been dishing out cheese cakes and chocolate cakes, and making houses and clothes for her dolls. The fabric she cut up for the clothes happened to be her mother’s new blouse piece but that’s another story!
CD Block’s Devansh Bose has picked up magic and has been uploading videos of his tricks on YouTube. Online karate classes weren’t his thing so he traded them for online art classes. The 10-year-old has been making paintings inspired by Monet and Van Gogh of late.
Vanshika Paul had basic training on the guitar at the onset of the pandemic and she continued learning from the Net. She was gifted an electric guitar on her 11th birthday this year and is now impressing with her renditions of Pink Floyd and Joe
Satriani.
Neha knows of a boy who has started organic farming. “Not only is it a constructive hobby but he now eats these vegetables easily too since they have come up under his own care,” says the mother of two from FE Block.
Kaushik Roy Choudhury of GD Block appreciates how his 10-year-old is now able to listen to stories from her grandmother. “Previously she would only have time for this at bedtime but now she can do so whenever she’s free. Kaushani knows all the characters of The Ramayana and The Mahabharata and can rattle off all the avatars of Durga and Kali,” says the father. “It’s a way to keep her away from the phone too.”
When Covid came calling
Despite the resilience, one cannot deny the negative impact the pandemic has had on young minds. When the lockdown first began and people would talk of nothing but morbidity, a 10-year-old girl withdrew into a shell. When confronted, she started asking her parents if they would all be dying.
As fate would have it, her whole family got Covid and she alone tested negative. She had to be isolated in a room and couldn’t bear the separation. “She would cry and plead with us to let her join us. She would ask if we were pushing her away as we didn’t love her anymore,” says her mother, a resident of New Town. Mother and daughter would sit pressed against either side of the door, with the mother coaxing the girl into eating her meals, mostly in vain.
When Neha and her husband were down with Covid, they moved to a lower floor in their building while their sons and in-laws remained on the floor above. “My six-year-old was inconsolable. He had never lived away from me for so long. He would cry and refused to eat. I would tell him stories on video call to get him to eat,” she recalls the harrowing experience. “A friend of ours succumbed to Covid and his child had gone mute in shock for a long time”
A Sector II lady recalls how shocked her nine-year-old was when he alone tested positive in the family. “I stayed with him in a room even though I was negative but the child was afraid I might leave him. He would hug and kiss me profusely hoping I’d get Covid too. That way I wouldn’t abandon him,” she sighs.
The kids have also had to deal with news of friends and relatives succumbing to Covid. Some are now using mobile phones of deceased grandparents for online classes.
Responsible children
CD Block’s Chandrani Paul says the pandemic has instilled in her daughter a belief in god. “That’s something one cannot drill into another by force. But in the pandemic, she prayed solemnly for her grandmother’s recovery, had faith that the situation would improve and felt gratitude when the Covid count around us reduced,” she says about 11-year-old Vanshika. “When I was down with Covid she helped her father with chores, provided me with mental strength… She grew up during the pandemic.”
Sabitri cannot believe the words of wisdom coming out of her nine-year-old either. “Seeing all the death around us, Eesha consoles me saying the only thing permanent is the soul and that this is not the first time they’re dying. The child is the epitome of hope that helps me stay positive,” says Sabitri. Eesha has also become independent in the pandemic. Her mother no longer needs to wake her up for classes. She sets her alarms herself on their Google Home virtual assistant.
CK Block’s Keka Chakrabarti says it is up to parents to ensure kids do not lose the plot. “Priyam is allowed to surf the Net for two hours on weekends. His friends lure him towards games but he isn’t allowed to download them,” she says. “Kids are malleable but parents have to guide them, especially in such uncertain times.”
Illustrations: Roudra Mitra
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