Aiden’s virtual grand tour with his gran
LOCKDOWN has proved to be particularly difficult for those unable to see their grandchildren. My eight-year-old son aiden has been unable to hug his Grandma, my mother assumpta wood, for 14 weeks. he’s in Year 3 and so will not be able to go to school until september. he is a focused little boy with lots of self-discipline, so doing his schoolwork at home has not been a problem. In fact, even when he’s done it all, he is still motivated to continue. as he couldn’t visit his grandmother, she offered to listen to him read over a video call. It is fair to say aiden was a reluctant reader who up to then had managed to read only a few pages a week. But during that first video call at the end of april, he read a whole 96-page book from a set he’d been given for Christmas. he was over the moon and we were equally proud. after that aiden couldn’t wait to read more books to Grandma. he especially enjoyed The Diaries Of Robin’s Travels by Ken & angie Lake, a set of books about a boy and his grandad travelling to an exciting destination. During lockdown, aiden couldn’t go on adventures with his grandparents, but they have been able to do this virtually. as aiden read, Grandma made notes to ask him comprehension questions the following day. Together, they set about researching each country featured in the books and wrote an illustrated fact file for every city. They went on to write about places they had been to on holiday together, including Belfast, sydney, Kosova, new York and Beijing, which brought back happy memories. aiden has travelled the world virtually with his grandma during lockdown. he has learned so much about each country, as well as improving his reading and writing. It has been wonderful to see the two generations spending time together and creating a project. I am proud of my son and grateful to my mother, who has given so much of her time and has shown patience, love and care for her grandson. They have made wonderful memories during lockdown. I hope aiden’s experience will inspire other children to pick up a book and start reading. he now reads every night before bed. when family garden visits were finally allowed, we went to see Mum and she had a big map for aiden so he could label all the cities he had read about.
VICTORIA SHATMANI, Nottingham.