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Explaining COVID-19 and the Corona Virus to Your Kids
Valentina T Segovia (Editor), Adam Riong (Illustrator)
A personal message from the author:
I wrote “The Day My Kids Stayed Home” as my small contribution to our world’s struggle with COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus. I am in the Air Force and used to going to work and dealing with hard situations, but for the first time we were sent home and put on the sidelines. My wife is a paramedic and day after day I have watched her put on a uniform and lacking real protective equipment go to work to help our community. I wanted to do something to help during the pandemic and decided to leverage my public health and infectious disease background to help kids. I came up with the idea after talking with a friend at work who clearly had no idea about the virus and what is happening in the world. He has a few kids and I realized that if my friend couldn’t talk about the pandemic with me, he definitely wouldn’t be able to explain it to his kids in an effective manner. I wanted to give him a tool to help his children.
The book is a short story that follows two puppies as they try to figure out why their kids are no longer walking to school each morning. The two dogs learn about the pandemic, the difference between a virus and a bacteria, how to wash your hands (or paws) and more. The goal was to take adult health science concepts and explain them in fun/non-scary kid friendly terms.
Kids (and adults) are scared when they don’t understand something. Most kids have enough access to tv/radio/smartphones/etc that they know that some sickness is spreading through the world. The book hopefully will give them enough of an explanation and empower them to not only feel safe, but to stay healthy.
— Adam M. Wallace
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has created massive disruption in kids’ lives around the world. As adults it’s our responsibility to learn about this virus and to keep our communities safe. This book is meant to help parents and teachers discuss COVID-19 with children and teach them about the virus and how we can stay healthy. Things are scarier when we don’t understand them. The first half of the book is a kid’s book that tells the story of two puppies learning about COVID-19; the second half is meant for adults and is a short explanation of what is happening and what we can do about it. After reading the back half you will be ready to discuss COVID-19 with your kids.