Omicron outbreak: Michele Hunter - what Covid has taught my children

There are some good lessons pandemic life has taught my little Generation Zers, writes Michele Hunter. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION

My children were probably too young to remember Covid when the pandemic started, but it's gone on for so long it's something I doubt they will ever forget.

Words like RAT test, virus, isolation and lockdown are now part of their everyday vocab, and to them surgical masks aren't something reserved for doctors and dental nurses.

My daughter recently bought a toy that came with accessories - including a tiny rainbow-coloured face mask. It made me feel uncomfortable but she simply accepted it as a 21st-century handbag staple.

When Covid hit, I was coming to terms with the fact our children probably wouldn't have the carefree childhood we enjoyed in the 1980s.

I wanted them to simply be kids – run, play and get dirty - away from the constant pull of screens as their go-to entertainment. Turns out that's a daily battle.

They still struggle with the concept that we had to wait for our favourite cartoon to air on TV, rather than selecting it from one of so many streaming platforms. At times I wish we still had a single Phillips K9 in the corner.

But in 2020 I feared Covid might steal their chance to just be kids. Telling them not to hug their friends or to wash their hands incessantly - all to avoid a virus that for them would "probably" resemble something like a bad cold.

I hit my tolerance boundary when it was suggested that my Year 4 son wore a face mask to school this year.

Thankfully he was saved by the fact that he is in a composite class and the younger children didn't have to wear them.

Back in my day... we left the house in the morning and came back when we got hungry.

Catching a potentially deadly virus was not among our list of daily concerns.

My daughter was still at daycare when I had to drop her at the gate, cover her in "hanitizer" - as she called it - and send her on her way. She's never known school outside a pandemic.

In saying that, I think Covid would have hit Kiwi kids even harder in the 1980s.

If we think we've been isolated now, imagine how we would have felt then.

I never would have seen the principal's award my daughter received or my son belting out a song on stage with his band. Not unless someone was going to grab a camcorder and send out VHS tapes via snail mail to each family.

I wouldn't be in a Facebook group of mums sharing their Covid experiences, anxieties, and dreams of a girls' night out when "all of this is over".

Family overseas would be restricted to phone calls as they missed out on seeing the faces of their growing grandchildren bouncing around a computer screen.

As much as I curse technology and worry about its influence on my children's moldable minds, it would be an even tougher world without it right now.

And there are definitely some good lessons pandemic life has taught my little Generation Zers.

Mum or Dad can't walk them to their classroom, to dancing or swimming lessons – they have to practise independence. In saying that, I don't think parents of the '80s ever did that for long anyway.

More importantly, it's taught them that life isn't always a box of fluffy ducks – despite Gen X parents (myself included) often spending a lot of time trying to orchestrate things so it appears that way.

People get sick, sometimes they even die, events are missed, shops are closed and we simply don't always get what we want – exactly when we want it.

They have become more accepting of the word "no".

I still try and keep a bit of my '80s childhood alive in my household.

I have a landline which costs me $5 a month and it's taught my children three important things 1980s children took for granted.

First, they have learned my phone number so that they can put orders in if they know I am out shopping.

Second, if they need to call someone in an emergency they don't have to worry about knowing the cellphone PIN number, or where exactly they can find a cellphone that's charged.

Finally, they know how to use a phone – one that doesn't have the numbers stored in it - and how to answer politely when it rings.

I hope the pandemic is the worst global event my children experience. Given there were world wars for my grandparents it feels like 1980s children – even the baby boomers - got off pretty lightly.

I guess there are pros and cons for every generation. Maybe pandemic life will raise a generation who never take freedom and good health for granted - and that's got to be a good thing.