On a warm sunny Sunday afternoon, Amy and Clayton Wilkinson and their four kids went to the park for a long-awaited picnic.
After being cooped up by winter weather for months, then confined for another month of COVID-19 self-imposed isolation, away from their friends, they sat together on a table enjoying their McDonald’s lunch watching signs of spring returning to Llheidli T’Enneh Memorial Park.
Grandmothers were out for a stroll with their daughters, kids shook off the rust in their legs as they rode their bikes along the river path, and it almost seemed like life as we used to know it had returned to normal.
But it’s too early for normal, not while the threat of the virus remains, and the Wilkinsons are not about to take any chances. They kept their distance, at least two metres apart from other human contact, a habit they’ve strictly maintained since March 12.
“The hardest part was the first couple weeks where you’re in isolation and all those close ties have been cut off,” said Clayton.
“I think people have been taking it seriously, and you see that in the grocery stores with people (social distancing),” said Amy. “This is about as exotic as we’ve gotten, this is the first time eating out in month and we’ve made big deal of it, sitting at a table by ourselves not close to anyone else. We didn’t invite friends and we have stayed away from people.”
Three of the Wilkinson kids – 14-year-old Josiah; nine-year-old Levi and seven-year-old Luke – attend Westside Academy, while their 11-year-old sister Faith is home-schooled by her mom Amy. The three boys are heading into their fourth week of online learning, ever since the schools were closed to students during the first week of spring break in March. Their dad Clayton is a Grade 3 teacher at Ron Brent Elementary School and both parents have a handle on teaching their kids what they’re supposed to be learning and keeping them on a schedule to learn their academic subjects.
“All of our kids have been home-schooled in the past,” said Clayton. “When the schools shut down it was only the three boys at school and we just brought them home.”
Amy has been a home-school teacher for years and she’s been getting grilled by other parents in the neighbourhood asking for advice.
“We try to stick with some kind of routine,” she said. “We do a morning meeting where we get on the same page and everybody has a planner and they write down what their tasks are and they all read to us out loud and tell us what they read about. Even though this is our normal, it’s also stressful and we try to keep it as basic and as pleasant as possible.”
“I think right now don’t worry too much about the academics, just enjoy and do what’s peaceful for your family. Have fun, read stories together, let them write a bit, play board games, go for walks together and just try and enjoy it. That extra burden of stress of school, really, in the long run, I don’t think anybody’s going to fall behind, it’s just trying to stay positive. We fail at that every day as parents because these high-stress times make it harder.”
Classroom activities are important but the Wilkinsons also know the value of keeping their kids active. Clayton is a former competitive triathlete who won the Prince George Triathlon not long after he moved to the city from Fort McMurray and Amy has also raced in triathlons and they passed their athleticism on to their kids. Josiah is in his eighth year swimming with the Prince George Barracudas. He practices 12 1/2 hours a week and was qualified for BC Summer Games in triathlon and swimming. Both his brothers swim three hours a week for the ‘Cudas, but that’s all been put on hold. The pools are closed.
“It’s been kind of difficult, not being able to see my friends,” said Josiah. “But it’ll turn out fine.”
“It’s hard for the kids not being able to see their friends,” said Amy. “Because if you say yes to one we have to say yes to all and all those different social interactions would add up.”
Dance was Faith’s favourite activity and that took up nine hours a week. She does ballet, jazz, variety and hip-hop, but tap dancing is her favourite and she’s disappointed all her competitions have been wiped out by the pandemic.
That doesn’t mean she’s sitting around the house glued to a screens, far from it. The whole family takes part in workout videos, they go for walks, runs and bike rides, shoot hoops or play badminton or volleyball in the backyard, just like they’ve always done.
“There’s a lot of online resources that are aimed towards kids, music-oriented, there’s lots of options, especially now that it’s warmer,” said Amy.
COVID-19 has confined families to their own homes but it’s also brought some good aspects and the Wilkinson kids are looking out for each other more, trying to get along.
“Kids in school go to their own age group but when your siblings are all you have for an extended period of time they’ve kind of regained the desire to play together,” said Amy. “When you’re forced to be with someone all the time there’s definitely fireworks but there’s also that, ‘Hey, I remember you and I like you, let’s do something together.”
People are being a little kinder it seems, banding together to fight the virus, and Clayton hopes that congenial spirit of cooperation doesn’t disappear when the pandemic subsides.
“Don’t lose what we’ve gained in this time,” he said. “Families might be playing more board games now or spending more time together at the dinner table and we should keep that going.”
