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Is your child's day care center closed right now?
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Photo:
Kelly Knox / Stocksy United
the choice of topic for this newsletter took my life away: as I write, an underutilized five-year-old jumps around me and asks me to play soccer with him.
In the living room of course.
Right now
!
I haven't been able to teach him the concept of patience yet.
I am very grateful for tips on how to do this.
What is this little human doing here?
The day care center is closed because there are not enough other children or teachers available to entertain him.
All sick!
It's not just me: there's hardly a digital SPIEGEL meeting in which two to eight colleagues with small children on their laps don't try to multitask in vain.
Like me right now.
(By the way, I recommend this beautiful text by my colleague Stefan Weigel on the subject.)
Closed daycare centers and a wave of illness - that sounds like 2020. Is the pandemic back again?
Can't the world think of something new?
The current virus
You probably already know: Covid-19 is currently not the main problem, especially for small people.
The RS virus causes dramatic conditions in practices and hospitals.
My colleague Milena Hassenkamp has written a text worth reading, which also deals with the political dimension of the problem.
The article is headed with a quote from the Berlin pediatrician Jakob Maske: “You start to cry!” I feel it.
My colleague Kristin Haug spoke to Karin Becke-Jakob about the same topic.
She is chief physician for anaesthesia, pediatric anesthesia and intensive care at a children's clinic in Nuremberg and describes that it is – again – the little ones who are particularly affected: »The attention to the child, being at the bed, the distraction, the playing – all of that will happen fewer."
She also gives advice on how to deal with sick children.
Even if it is difficult, please only go to the emergency room in absolute medical emergencies.
The fact that your pediatrician is not available at the moment is not necessarily an emergency.
And believe me, I have the greatest understanding that, especially with young children, it is more likely to be too many than too few trips to the hospital.
Becke-Jakob recommends the specialist emergency service, which can be reached on 116117.
And many symptoms of illness can also be combated at home.
Even if you don't have fever juice - which we just call "magic potion" - which is hard to come by at the moment.
My colleague Marthe Ruddat, who is also a trained pediatric nurse, has put together the most important tips for you.
I encourage you to bookmark this article, even if you're lucky and don't have an acutely ill child.
»catch-up effects«
Speaking of children who are not acutely ill, my son is very jolly.
Albeit a little angry.
I scored two goals.
That's probably not what was meant by playing along.
I am, so to speak, the Costa Rica of our living room.
And he's like Germany: out, the football dwarf.
In his case from the living room.
Stomped offended into his room.
I haven't been able to explain to him what frustration tolerance means either.
We actually wanted to visit friends at the weekend.
But they uninvited us.
You guessed it: there too – all sick.
And what did my son say when he heard that?
"But we can still go there." I then: "That's not a good idea, because then we'll get sick too." He then said again: "Oh yes, I would like to be sick too."
Because illness means for him: I don't have to go to pre-school.
He likes them, but he likes being at home even more.
Then he decides where to go.
My wife and I probably did a lot wrong.
But definitely something right.
Because it's nice that he likes it with us.
(By the way, you can find a lot of clever and important things about the relationship between parents and their children in the current issue of SPIEGEL Knowledge. And in this podcast, my colleague Lenne Kaffka had it explained to him how parents can remain lovers.)
What my son's testimony also reveals is that he simply doesn't know what being ill feels like.
At the beginning of the pandemic he was two and a half, since then we have been adhering to the rules of distance and hygiene.
Actually, he would be predestined for the RS virus wave.
And I'm slightly concerned that his young immune system might not be properly prepared for whatever may come.
My colleague Julian Aé recently described the so-called “catch-up effects”.
Marthe Ruddat had already explained the phenomenon last summer.
And what do you do at home with the child?
I screwed up the football thing.
But reading is always possible.
My son is teaching himself and trying his hand at »The Very Hungry Caterpillar«.
By "night" he has already come.
That is a beginning.
To read to me, I pulled out the old edition of Jim Button and Luke the Locomotive Driver that my mother used to read to me.
I know, of course, there are things in this book that one would no longer write in the same way today.
I still enjoy reading it though.
(More interested in children's books with black princesses and male mermaids? Here are some tips.)
The »July« series by Jutta Bauer and Kirsten Boie is a little less outdated, but still worth recommending.
We started with »No day for July«.
That was quite an awakening experience.
July is something like the realistic alternative to Conny.
A lot goes wrong with him.
And if anything goes wrong, Juli gets mad.
When he's angry, he punches other children.
Some box back and are stronger than he is, "and Juli didn't know that before." This sentence has become a phrase for us.
Fits frighteningly often.
And what's for dinner?
Honestly, fish fingers with mashed potatoes.
I could have told you now that I am cooking an exciting recipe by Verena Lugert.
But you and I both know that when I'm working at home with a five-year-old, I don't do that.
But while flipping through the "nerve food" series, I came across the Swedish cinnamon rolls.
My son and I will do that.
At least we baked a lot of cookies this year.
Of miracle minutes and small moments
At the end of this newsletter is an apology.
Addressed to the many of you who wrote to us after the first two issues.
We asked if there were any short, small moments in your family that you would like to share with us that we may publish here (anonymously if desired).
And if you can think of a name that we could call this section.
I'm afraid not everyone got an answer.
This embarrasses me as I said I would take care of this not knowing how many letters we would receive.
So if you get an email from SPIEGEL: It's just me thanking you.
And please be sure: Even if we don't answer immediately, we read everything and are happy.
My personal highlight came from reader Jennifer M.:
The son, 6, is doing his homework. Out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly see that he draws a snap at every math problem. "What are you doing?" I ask. Then he looks up at me and says, "I'm ticking myself." "Isn't that your teacher's job?" He grins at me and asks, "Why, Mom? Everything is correct!«
Thank you for this moment and the many others that have reached us.
Please continue to participate diligently and write to us at familie@spiegel.de.
And I'll start answering the emails.
As soon as my son lets me.
I wish you a nice weekend!
Malte Müller-Michaelis
