Orr (8.5) took advantage of his stay at home to learn to play organically • And Michael (7.5) and Amalia (5.5) send hugs to Mom, who is infected with the virus • Alumni of the Corona

• Grow in the shade of the corona

  Photo: 

  Liron Moldovan

Only two words are stamped on the year-end gifts received by Grade 1 students at the Dekel School in Raanana. Two words that simply tell the story of an entire generation: "Corona graduates." The wait, you must have guessed, is a mask for the face. 

Or Ben Ami (8.5) is one of those Corona graduates who, like all Israeli children, has had to get used to a new reality. "I am very careful about keeping a distance," he shares, "to understand the distance in front of my friends when we are together, I count promos on the floor. If there are no prompts, I send the leg back and forth and multiply the distance." The need to maintain social remoteness is not always beneficial, to say the least. "I am very much waiting for the Corona to end so we can all embrace," he adds. "I really like to hug Dad, but also want to hug friends." 

Because of the epidemic, he had to avoid visiting his grandmother in the nursing home, "and I miss it very much. My school teacher, Shiri, did not get to see and actually cried that I was separated from her and that we did not have a longer period of time together. It is a great pity."

But the Corona routine, he says, also has a positive aspect. "Because I had time off so I read a lot of books, I practiced playing in my cello and through meetings with a close relative, I also learned to play in the organ, which I did not know before," he boasts, "I had time because I closed the electronics and carpentry circles at the center. The arts explained to me that they want to keep the manager in the Corona era, because he is already a grandfather. So I stayed with the skateboard club, which you can do with the Corona because it is in the open air. "

The extended stay in the houses has an added advantage. Orr says that he came very close to his family during this period, especially his older brother Gad and his younger sister Gil. "We learned to play a monopoly and we all played together. It was a lot of fun. 

We asked Light when, in his opinion, the Corona would be gone from the world. We were amazed at how well an 8.5-year-old boy was proficient in current affairs. "The scientists are very smart and thinking about a vaccine. I think they'll be able to find it, and then we can get all the members into smaller rooms." And he also has an important request from readers, at least until the vaccine is finally found: "I think if each of us makes a small change and adheres to the guidelines, it will make a big change for all of us." 

Optimistic outlook

Matan Pavlovich, a 7.5-year-old from Givatayim, who is currently in second grade, also had to learn this year not only the account operations - but also how to live in the shadow of the virus. "If I met the Corona on the street," he explains, "I would yell at her the loudest in the world to stop - and walk away!"

Despite the frustration, Matan serves as her extended and soothing national ambassador for the Corona Guidelines. Every few days, he sends a voice message to the family wetsap group, repeating the instructions: "Hi family, I know you are really in a hurry, but this corona crisis is not going to end anytime soon. You have to be together, stay at home, not move, keep the kids. Hygiene, alcohol gel and more hands-on care must be maintained. Please be careful and move better, and break this global corona crisis. Thank you, Giving. " In response, he deserves, and rightly, the family's appreciation: "Everything's fine. Thanks so much," "Yhhhh, I'm sick of you!" And another hand is slanting. 

Matan, Amit and Noam's little brother, enjoys most of the time with them, with the extended family - and with a host of games left at home. "The best part about Corona is that I was able to build a really good character of a Lego warrior, because I had more time," he says enthusiastically. "My cousin the baby can also sleep with me because there was no school, so I went to bed late. TV I really like. "

He already mastered the mask and alcohol taps so well that he was able to distinguish two unique types: "There are masks and alcohol with such a really good smell, of a kind of flowers, which is really fun to put on the face and hands and smell," he explains, " And there are sweaty stinky masks, which I have to ask Mum and Dad to smell good for, because I play football and catch up with friends, and if we take off the masked teachers we wake up. " 

And if you were looking for a fraction of light in the Corona Tunnel, or a learned assessment of the epidemic's end, listen to Matan: "The Corona is almost never coming to the children. In my opinion, in five months, you will no longer be a Corona," he states, "our doctors will be able to cure everyone, and the news will tell That you can walk without a mask, and we'll go back to normal on the street. " 

Surprise from the tooth fairy

Those who would be delighted to leave the Corona period behind are the brothers Michael and Amalia Shalev, the residents of the center, who are today out of solitary confinement two weeks after their mother contracted the virus. "I miss her so much and want to hug her the most," says Amalia (5.5), who whenever she felt the desire to see her mother, looked at her picture or made video calls, "I hugged her from the phone."

She spent the period in isolation with her older brother Michael (7.5). Because of the ban on leaving the house, they both had to miss the graduation parties in kindergarten and school, but the friends did not forget them - and sent them an exciting surprise. "Send ice cream home. It was really fun, "says Michael. And despite the economic crisis that brought the virus with him, Michael got another surprise of his own: a kind gift from his tooth fairy, after one of his teeth fell. 

To relieve the loneliness and longing, watch classic films that if they were not in doubt they would have been exposed: "Mary Poppins," "ET," and "Star Wars." As part of the Corona teenage days, they also dived, at such a young age, into the world of podcasts. "We heard a podcast about a banana," Amalia says of her new discoveries, "Once upon a time, bananas had disease and had to replace all the bananas in the world. Until they found two varieties that brought us a new banana." Michael, for his part, found one reason to rejoice even in these troubled days. "This school is annoying. In Corona we went to it less," he says with satisfaction.

And there is one moment from this strange period that he will surely find hard to forget: Although he has not recently attended school, everyone has made sure that he does not feel out of touch. In a company class, they projected his image through the zoom on the classroom board. The members were deeply impressed. he too.