Children open up as they get used to a life in lockdown
As we all get to grips with the strange new reality of life in a pandemic, children and teenagers are going through their own challenges of social distancing. Kathryn Williams caught up with three South Wales youngsters to find out what’s going through th
WE ARE all living in a different world these days because of Covid-19.
Office life for many has been moved into our homes, holidays are cancelled and the simplest things like sharing a coffee with friends or going to the cinema are off the agenda.
For adults, it’s our job to keep calm and carry on as much as possible.
But what about the children and teenagers who are missing milestones like birthday parties and life events such as leaving primary school behind, or even rare opportunities to play at the Principality Stadium?
Yes, they’ll get over it, they’ll have to – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed to mourn what’s fallen by the wayside before looking to the future and getting back out on that rugby pitch or local park.
Three Welsh youngsters – two 11-year-olds and a 16-year-old – have opened up about experiencing their second week of physical distancing and staying at home.
The younger two, Gwen Warren from Pontypridd, and Isaac Norton from Ton Pentre, are slightly nervous about starting secondary school, and are gutted about the missed shared experience of leaving year six if schools don’t return before the summer holidays arrive.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Jac Simmonds from Treorchy has had to get his head around what had been a stressful build-up to GCSEs and now, suddenly, as he puts it, “there’s nothing at all” for him to focus his mind on.
“It was just a big anticlimax,” says Jac, who is returning to Treorchy Comprehensive for sixth form in the autumn.
“When they started talking about closing schools – I was just worried that I wouldn’t be able to learn everything at school before the exams – I was stressed.
“But then I heard they cancelled the exams – there were mixed emotions really.”
Jac isn’t alone in worrying about, and actually, valuing his time at school.
Isaac, who plays for Treorchy RFC under-11s and is also Rhondda Schools captain is disappointed to miss out on tests due to be taken during the upcoming term.
“I was gutted because we’ve got our tests and I’m meant to be going up to the comp,” adds the Ton Pentre Junior School pupil who shares his home with parents Rebekah and Darren and siblings Ava and Caleb.
“I am sad that I’m not seeing my friends but you’ve always got your phone and Xbox but I do feel that most of us are going to lose out on work going up to the comp. That’s the sad thing.
“The year six tests are the most important tests in primary school and the comp bases what you are going to be doing on them.”
Gwen too is concerned about school, not just missing friends, but teachers and being taught there also.
“Year six – it feels like it’s gone like that (clicks her fingers),” said the 11-year-old who loves her time on TikTok
and is a huge fan of the TV show Friends.
“It’s all been taken away from me – I’m probably not going to go back to primary school now. So I got really sad, leaving my teachers and my friends.”
Teenager Jac acknowledges that a lot of the pressure he puts on himself to be busy and have a daily regime does play on his mind, but he’s spending his days prepping for potential sixth-form work and keeping fit by going for a run or walking his family’s dog, Miley.
He was aiming to find a job before the lockdown and says he can’t wait to work once it’s over.
“I find sitting around the house a waste,” says the army cadet.
“This past week has been relaxing but I have stress in the back of my mind: ‘why aren’t I doing anything important’ like learning or working? “I think a lot of the pressure it put on myself is unwarranted and a lot of people I have spoken to feel bored.
“All this time I have been working and preparing and building up to more and more work, and been getting ready for and now there’s nothing at all.”
For Jac, social events that have been cancelled are the Cambrian Patrol event he was due to participate in, in the Brecon Beacons, and the selection for a Canada exchange programme has also been put on hold.
And for Gwen, her brother’s fourth birthday celebrations have been moved to the back garden and her farewell to year six events like prom and a trip to Llangrannog are scribbled out of the diary.
“I really hope they are rescheduled,” she says.
“I was excited for high school, but I’m not looking forward to it now, when I think about all the things I’m going to be missing out on. The parents will hopefully arrange a prom for us all to get together.”
Rugby-mad Isaac had a really big game coming up in the semi-final of the DC Thomas Bowl before lockdown.
If Rhondda Schools U11 had beaten Swansea or Newport in the semi-final then a chance to play at the Principality Stadium was scheduled.
Isaac said: “The worst thing about rugby being cancelled is that I was captain for the Rhondda Schools and if we’d won the semis we’d have gone to play the final at the Principality Stadium – but that’s all cancelled now.
“I was gutted. Most people can’t say they’ve played at the Principality Stadium – it would have been amazing.”
So how do the kids feel about coronavirus? And how much do they know?
For Gwen and Isaac, they both have parents who work for the NHS.
Jac says he is aware of why the measures have been put in place, and finds the effects of the virus on society quite scary.
Gwen said: “I started hearing about it on the news a bit and I just picked it up. I was mostly scared about the older people in my family, because they say it couldn’t really affect children, and my great-gran has a really bad heart.
“And my mam and dad will be at risk too so I was scared.”
Her mam and step-dad, Gemma and Paul Benjamin, work at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
She added: “I feel bad because they are at loads of risk – I don’t want them
This past week has been relaxing but I have stress in the back of my mind ‘why aren’t I doing anything important’ like learning or working?