Monday, 16 March 2020

Self isolation

is causing complex problems that nobody could have foreseen.
Let me explain.
Our neighbours across the road are lovely people. We like them a lot. The father (M....) is a civil engineer, the mother (S....) a paediatrician, and then there is T....(6) and H....(on the way to 4). We get on really well with them. 
Right now though S.... is back in NZ. She went because her mother is dying. She went before the "self isolation" edict was put in place. 
M....'s mother came over from NZ to help look after the boys, again before the "self isolation" edict was put in place. 
Now when S.... comes back and M.....'s mother goes home they are both required to self-isolate for fourteen days. That is going to be very difficult, especially for S... .  They will do it because they are sensible, law abiding citizens who will do what they can.
M...'s mother has to go back to NZ at the end of the month. She should be going back to work then. S....doesn't want to leave until after her mother has gone...but she also wants to come home. She is desperately missing her husband and her two boys. 
It's really hard on her and on them.
M...came over yesterday while the Senior Cat was doing some gentle watering of the planter boxes at the front. We discussed the situation. As long as school and day care remain open the boys are cared for during the day. While his mother is here other things get done. 
And after that? I can do the obvious and cook some meals but he needs more help than that because he works long hours. He is fortunate in that he and S... have taught the boys to entertain themselves to some extent. Their living area is always scattered with toys.
But T.... is worried. Naturally he doesn't like his mother being away because all sorts of things don't happen. He is hoping that his grandmother will stay for a while longer. That way his father,
   "still reads to me and H.... at bedtime. Everything is much better if you can do that."
Need I say anything about that at all?
 

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