2 minute read
KiDS Socials
from KiDS Socials
By Jessica Stockwell | May 2020
SMALL APARTMENT in BARCELONA. 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
Barcelona, Spain: Poblenou Park. A great place for a kids excursion outside.
Photo: J. Stockwell
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.
Three siblings outside for an excursion away from computer screens. Barcelona, Spain
photo: J. Stockwell
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
