KiDS Socials

KiDS Socials

KiDS Socials: Offline, Outside, Supervised—for Moms who need a break.

MAY 2020 - Corona Virus, Global Pandemic I -Barcelona, Spain

by Jessica Stockwell

1 - Article: KIDS Socials: Offline, Outside, Supervised - for Moms who need a break | by Jessica Stockwell | MAY 2020

KIDS SOCIALs: Offline, Outside, Supervised - for Moms who need a break

by Jessica Stockwell

Barcelona

Three siblings outside during designated times for kids 12:00-19:00 phased in as of 2 May 2020 in Barcelona, Spain.

I’m a social entrepreneur; a humanist first, an enthusiastic organizer second, a proactive doer third, and of course like most women, I juggle many talents, skills and responsibilities. ESL English teaching for business professionals, TV presenters, and kids have been a way to support my arrival in a new city. I arrived in Barcelona in 2017 and promptly was employed by Boost School of English Academy, for adults. With my move from the Eixample neighborhood to the Poblenou neighborhood, I changed schools to be closer to where I lived. That is how I spent last year, teaching at Golden Gate Academy of English with a focus on kids, in Poblenou.”

Teaching to CAVA Socials 2020 I started 2020 with grand ambitions of creating tours for visitors and locals to the Catalunya wine and cava regions: Penedes and Priorat. I also created what I call —CAVA Socials—an excuse for visitors and locals to get out of the hotel, apartment or office for an hour of socializing and celebrating with a tasting of sparkling wine or local cava at a local establishment. I envisioned a yearly fundraiser event in October titled: CAVA for a CAUSE, Celebrating the Women of CAVA. That was January 2020.

Ironically, the concept of my CAVA Socials—and my desire for people to socialize, freely without an agenda or group purpose, had to be put on hold because of CoVid-19. No socializing. As of May 2, 2020, there was a phased in easing of restrictions. I had been meeting my neighbor on the rooftop of our apartment building, a small but open space allowing me, her and her 3 children to exercise. All at a distance.

The new normal was to be some form of face mask awareness, social distancing and of course, washing hands.

My Motto: Necessity is the Mother of Invention, so I invent.

Now that we can go outside (after 52 days of lockdown and no outside activities or socializing) I’m desperate to walk outside, touch the trees, look at the sea, watch the clouds. The weather is ideal, fresh, inspiring, yet the virus and CoVid-19 is still spreading. Children will not be going back to school, nor will there be kids day camps, my neighbor with three children tells me when I ask her, “What are you going to do?”

Long story short. Kids Socials went from concept—discussed with my neighbor and her three children, who have been stuck in the apartment and glued to a computer screen—to an outdoor excursion on May 6, 12:30-1:30. Kids (14 and younger) are allowed out for exercise with an adult, this usually being parents or relatives. However, my neighbors, the parents, are working from home and now working from home and going to work. I see this as so stressful for everyone.

2 - Article: KIDS Socials: Offline, Outside, Supervised - for Moms who need a break | by Jessica Stockwell | MAY 2020

I, too, live in a small apartment in Barcelona with my husband, no children and no pets, and I’m cleaning more (or thinking about it and not doing it), cooking more (shopping now with a mask, gloves and distancing, at home I’m cutting, prepping, cooking and serving and NOT cleaning up completely) and trying to find my private space and time. I usually head out to the beach or a walk around the neighborhood. So did my neighbors, and the children went to school. It’s a dilemma. So I thought about starting a service to take the kids on a walk, go outside, supervise and learn about the kids, practice some English, like a visiting auntie— a trusted adult to supervise, who speaks English.

KIDS out 12:00-19:00 and Face Mask Aware My neighbor and I hatched a plan for a supervised excursion complete with proper permissions, facemasks and an itinerary that included first stop, ice cream, and then a visit to the park.

The first test for all of us was to put face-masks on. Awkwardly we all did. Once inside the local, always been there, SuperMarcado, I noticed lots of touching of the ice cream refrigerator. A gaggle of hands opening the ice cream box plastic-see-through-cover and hands digging through the packaged cold ice creams so we could read the labels and pick the right flavor. Were we all to wear gloves? I had gloves on. We made our way out and to the park.

I exercised my auntie-nice, not-teacherly ‘coaching advice’ to be aware of limiting the touching of everything (which is normal and I do it ALL the time). This advice included a nod and shrug-of-the-shoulders towards a new awareness of how we are to handle ourselves in public places. We headed to the park, washed our hands, played a hide and seek game and practiced English along the way. All with a new consciousness of sneezing or coughing into our face-masks, keeping our germs to ourselves, sanitizing and washing our hands and keeping the new normal—social distancing—in public places. It was an eye-opening, good first excursion and curious adventure into this evolving new normal post CoVid-19.

Kids Socials Kids Socials are for Moms whose children need to get some fresh air, run or walk around and get out of the apartment and away from the computer screen for an hour or so. For Moms interested in an offline, outside, supervised excursion for your children contact Jessica- Excursion Leader and Certified English teacher.

Contact: Jessica Stockwell Email: jessica@jessicastockwell.com

Language: English. CELTA Certified English Teacher

3 - Article: KIDS Socials: Offline, Outside, Supervised - for Moms who need a break | by Jessica Stockwell | MAY 2020

KiDS Socials

MAY 2020 - Corona Virus, Global Pandemic I -Barcelona, Spain

by Jessica Stockwell

4 - Article: KIDS Socials: Offline, Outside, Supervised - for Moms who need a break | by Jessica Stockwell | MAY 2020