Much like so many others are experiencing right now, I am spending a lot of time at home. Every day seems to blend in together with waking up, helping homeschool the children, feeding them lunch, and then taking them out to the backyard to keep them from going crazy. There are days when my wife comes home from her job, and I can't wait for one or two hours. I have to head into the office at work to get some work done.
Not that any of this feels normal. None of it feels normal, washing hands regularly, wearing a facemask, trying your best to social distance, and doing your absolute best to not go crazy on the lady behind you in line who can't seem to grasp what six feet of distancing means.
If there's anything the past few weeks have taught me is how important it is to pitch in and try your best to do what you can do for the greater good. Sure, doing my best to keep my family safe is very admirable and necessary, but what about going beyond that?
That's when a recent conversation I had with a good friend of mine comes into the story.
Will Sarris, a local voice-over artist, heard about how various celebrities were reading children's stories for kids stuck at home due to the coronavirus social distancing. "I've got the time in between doing work at home, and I can do this to entertain my family and friends, at least."
Since then, every day, he's been posting a children's' book a day on youtube to share with anyone interested. I immediately offered to do what I could on my end. I made thumbnails, added keywords, etc. and also had the welcome benefit of getting one of my good friends to read the kids a bedtime story, so I won't have to!
Earlier this week, I made him aware of Coronavirus: A Book for Children. It's a free information book that explains the coronavirus to children, and the cool thing is that The Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler illustrates it! Will told me that because he was currently working on an audiobook, he didn't have too much time to get the editing done on this video. I told him I had time! So off to the computer I went to get this done for the next morning! You can watch the video below!
While it might not seem like much, I think the overall message of COVID-19 is to help where you can. Find out what you can do, think about where your talents can be helpful and try your best to spread light in this dark time! What can you do? Can you sew? Make masks! Can you pick up groceries for the older woman down the street? Do it! (As long as you're careful about social distancing!) I know I'll be looking for more opportunities to help in any way I can. I know there are a lot of parents struggling to explain the coronavirus to their children at home, that's why I worked together with William Sarris Productions to make this video happen.
We work hard, but first and foremost, we are two dads who care about our kids and hope this helps you protect and educate the ones you love.