Our day starts out well. I have my early morning prayer meeting, and Master D is up and about and quite chipper.
That chipper-ness deteriorates after his class Zoom call. Master D gets upset over small things. He cries for 20 minutes because his sister picked a flower from the garden that he wanted. Like full-on wailing, so many tears.
I realise it is the Zoom calls that are triggering this behaviour, and is why it was so hard to get schoolwork done last week. Master D is really sensitive, and the Zoom calls do not work for him. Perhaps he feels sad or angry or disappointed that he can’t play with his classmates in person, or perhaps he’s not sure about the work expected from him as he can’t concentrate on the teacher during the loud and busy meetings. Either way, it’s not working.
I know he’s not the only young one finding this method of working to be impossible. A friend says her child gets wound up and angry after each call so they aren’t worth it. Another friend says her child cries and is hard to settle after seeing his friends online.
I talk to Miss E. She is not bothered if we don’t do the video calls anymore, so I email their teachers to let them know the situation. We will still try to get the work done, but we can do without the constant tantrums and tears that the video calls bring on.
We go into ‘cocoon mode’ in the afternoon; the kids make me watch “Thunderbirds Are Go!”, which I don’t mind because it’s a great show, but I draw the line at Pokemon. Master D just wants to snuggle with us. They are buoyed by a delivery of new markers, colouring pencils and thermal tops that took a surprisingly short time to be delivered. The school supplies have arrived in the nick of time as our last lot of markers have been ravaged by the children. Amazing how these little things make a difference.