The quarantine challenges many families again • In some cases supervision of the children during the day requires completion of work at night • Others learn to let go • And some parents admire learning in the morning, and care for Corona victims in the evening • Family in quarantine
The Miller Family Lod - "It's time to find the balance between work and family"
"In the last year, I came in as a partner in the Opticant Barnes optics store in Ramla, and because of that, my work is around the clock all the time," says Hadar Miller, 31, from Lod.
"At the beginning of the crisis, Eitan, who works at a high-tech company, started working from home. The field of optometry was defined as an essential profession, so I had to address customers in the store and even in their homes after normal working hours."
Hadar and Eitan (34), an electrical engineer by profession, have four children: Uri (10, fifth grade), Maayan (7, third grade), Noya (5, compulsory kindergarten), and Gilad (2.5, Miha residence hall). " The closure challenges us very much because the store's employees in HALAT are due to a sharp decline in business activity, and therefore the burden of working in the store is on my shoulders, "Hadar explains." "And Noya studied in capsules in the first wave and are now studying remotely. Gilad in the previous closure was at home, but now the special education in which he is studying is operating as usual."
Due to the new situation, the father Eitan stays at home with the children, and works in the process.
He does the rest of the work late at night.
"The Corona period has brought with it many challenges," Hadar admits, "but it is precisely our time as parents to find the right balance between work and family. The burden of education has always been on the parents, and now it is becoming clearer."
The Zada Family Lod - "Closure also has emotional consequences"
Meet the Zada family from Lod, who juggle between vital jobs and four children at home.
Father Erez is the principal of the Nesharim Youth High School in Tel Aviv, who continues to work all the time due to the vitality of his position.
Is Rebecca a full-time social worker, also a vital worker, and four children in eighth, fifth, second grades and pre-school.
"There's no time to breathe like that," says Rivka. "My work allows me to come two days in the afternoon, these two days I work from home at the same time, also help the children with distance learning, answer calls and prepare food. Then they are alone for two hours and then packed. is coming".
The mother of the Zada family explains that in order to succeed in this situation, "we also took a babysitter on Wednesday and Erez will work from home on Thursday. God, a step we would not have considered taking at all before. "
She adds that "this is already the second closure that we are acting like this, and it is not easy, but the secret is to let go. Let go if the power runs out and not insist on what is not necessary. And if it can be added in a personal tone - we really manage to deal with anything "For us policy makers to take into account the emotional consequences of the closure and not just the health. As those who know the difficulty closely thanks to the work of both of us, we see the very severe consequences of the previous closure, and unfortunately do not see significant lessons learned in the current round."
Hero Family Efrat - the 12-year-old protagonist has gone into isolation - and the family is trying to adjust
The Gibor family from the town of Efrat in Gush Etzion is trying to cope with the closure - and it's not easy for them.
The father of the family, Arieh, is currently in Khalat, and he will probably never return to work. Although he received new job offers, everything changed with the closure.
The mother of the family, Hagit, who works for the Jerusalem municipality, is considered a vital worker and was supposed to go to work this week, but after it was announced on Rosh Hashanah that their eldest daughter, Naama, became infected in Corona, plans changed and the family found isolation.
12-year-old Naama, a child on the autistic continuum, is isolated alone, in her own room, and has difficulty coping with routine changes and being alone.
Mother Hagit recounts her daughter's difficulties: "Naama was supposed to continue studying in the educational setting, and we were happy that her routine would continue, but she was infected by a substitute teacher in the classroom. She goes crazy in the closed space, not studying in the setting and the frequent changes. "It's been two days since she went into solitary confinement, there is a lot of frustration and these are not easy days."
Hagit adds that "we received special employment kits from the council that were tailored for her and it kept her busy, let her go out to breathe air, but it is still very difficult for her and she falls apart. I know it is not ideal, but we put a TV in her room, we brought puzzles and works, If more days pass, it will be more complex. "
Family members are awaiting the results of their corona examination.
If they turn out to be negative, Hagit prepares for her and the children to stay somewhere else, while her partner, Arieh, stays at home with Naama.
She says that the whole issue of distance learning is very difficult to implement, and even she admits that it is ironic, given that in her role as director of education in the Jerusalem municipality, she develops distance learning platforms and helps school principals manage the whole issue of distance learning.
The Gibor family has two computers, one of which is used by Hagit in her day-to-day work so that she can hold work meetings and promote the projects she is in charge of, and the other is used by the three children, 12-year-old Naama, 10-year-old Amital and 7-year-old Uriah.
so what are we doing?
She says she's just prioritizing.
"The three kids had zoom sessions and assignments, some at the same time. They were arguing on the computer and had to decide on priorities, so there were lessons we gave up. In the long run, I don't know how we will manage it," she says.
She has a critique of the conduct of the first wave.
"We were in momentum and did not take advantage of it properly. We did not return from the first closure wisely. The current closure is a fictitious closure, a situation has arisen where those affected are the weak ones. I hope this time there will be a smarter exit plan and they can take control of the situation."
The Golden Family Zichron Yaacov - the nurse in the Corona department who also has to run zoom classes
The Zehavi family, parents and five children, live in Zichron Yaacov.
Mother Julie is a nurse in the Corona ward at Rambam Hospital in Haifa and father Yitzhak works at a venture capital fund.
The eldest daughter is Shi-El (16), followed by the four sons Yair (14), Gabriel (11), Eitan (9) and little Raziel (6).
Julie went out to work yesterday morning and encountered major traffic jams due to police checkpoints.
"It was a catastrophe," she says, "terrible traffic jams, something crazy."
Yitzhak stayed to work from home, so he took care of the children's distance learning.
"Everyone learns remotely and it's very challenging," he says, "We need five computers, one computer per child. We have three laptops and two more tablets. The tablets are old and they work not something. The hardest part of the closure is the matter of distance learning. I have to work. And while also sitting with the kids.Each teacher has a different link to zoom in and other hours.To transfer the link from WhatsApp to a computer or tablet and it is complicated.It is one big headache just to zoom in and have to sit with the child at first until it works properly.We have five kids "I have to sit with the little ones, and there are also technical problems with the big ones. I also have to work and operate their studies."
Julie adds about the challenging experience and notes: "I have to sit with the kids in the morning on the lessons in Zoom, especially with the little one. I am not a teacher. I have to devote all my morning to their lessons."
She even encounters another problem in the current situation: "I work 12-hour shifts, and some days I come home after a whole night without sleep and I can't sleep - because the kids can't be quiet for more than an hour. It's functioning with cumulative fatigue."
To alleviate the boredom of the children and solve the problem of limiting the distance from home, Yitzhak built a basket in the yard.
"We built the basket even in the first closure. We also have a trampoline and I arranged an area with synthetic grass for football."
Beyond the children's distance learning operation, Yitzhak is also concerned about his sports training: "I do training five times a week, running in the field and swimming in the sea. I do not understand if I am allowed or not."
