COVID DIARY: DAY 10

So Week 2 of self-isolation is well underway and the novelty of being in lockdown is starting to wear.

Both kids dropped the dreaded “b” word today; boredom. That’s despite having access to a PS4, three streaming services, two computers, art materials, a box of toys each (though I think they’re too old for toys) and an impressive home library. To my credit I didn’t regale them with another retelling of my childhood (public library, Amstrad and only a couple of toys each). Instead, I told them to read a book 😏.

Every tech company out there has offered some temporary tools to help out during the COVID shutdown, usually time limited access to premium features. To me that sounds like a marketing ploy. The best tool by far has been free since it launched all those years ago, YouTube.

Whilst my daughter has been doing most of her learning via Google Classroom, we’ve had to be creative with my son. He uses BBC Bitesize and Scratch, but fills in the gaps with tutorials from YouTube channels like Mathantics. For Arabic lessons he uses Al-Qalam Institute.

We have a smallish yard and a decent sized living room. It’s our hub for food, prayers and exercise. We search YouTube for workouts to guide us through warm ups, exercises and cool downs. Today we did a dumbell session (https://youtu.be/L3eImBAXT7I) for 15 minutes. It was suitable for the girls and I just used heavier weights to make it more challenging for me.

Even for entertainment we turn to YouTube. We have our regular favourites like Shmee 150, Supercar Blondie and Mr JWW. We are currently enjoying Tavarish’s CarTrek series (homage to Top Gear and Grand Tour). Occasionally we like to watch Jablinski and Will Smith.

Count your blessings, dear readers. We in the West enjoy so many luxuries that we regularly take them for granted. However, don’t squander the learning opportunities offered by internationally available resources like YouTube. If we don’t come out in three months time having learned something about ourselves, or a new skill or language, then that will truly be a great tragedy indeed.