When the Covid-19 crisis started spreading around the world, the associated policy responses of confinement and social distancing affected almost every part of children’s worlds.
Radiokop resident Chanel Golden and Sandy Bollen Hughes from Weltevreden Park are co-authors of the children’s book Coronies Cause Chaos aimed at addressing the many ways the pandemic has affected children.
According to Chanel, who is the illustrator of the book, it is the first in their AQORN book series that will address these issues in a fun and low-stress way.
Sandy, who is a counselling psychologist, revealed to the Northsider why this particular booklet was published.
“We have seen the many ways in which this pandemic has been affecting our children, and we want to help them process the information and be reminded of safety protocols in a fun and child-friendly way.
“Writing the booklet was a collaborative process but as a psychologist I brought ideas to the table on how it could be used to open discussions between adults and children about the emotional issues that surround the pandemic.
“The virus has been presented uniformly as the enemy and a scary bug that needs to be feared. We hoped to ease this by changing the narrative to a less daunting one for children,” said Sandy.
Chanel and Sandy’s children are learners at Weltevreden Park Primary School and they have been approaching schools to sell the booklet.
They have also been reading sections of the book to others free of charge to raise awareness while marketing the books to parents who may appreciate a chance to ease their children’s fears while still reinforcing safety protocols.
“We got the idea because we are moms and our kids have been struggling with depression, anxiety and other issues that we never faced as kids.
“It’s a difficult world our children have to face; they have to be more emotionally prepared and have the strength to get through adversity.
“Also, the upswing trend of personality disorders can be dealt with or avoided if our children develop empathy and resilience,” said Chanel.
Chanel and Sandy are hoping to get funding and support to get the book translated into more of our official languages, and are excited at the possibility of their book and series going forward.
“We really would love the community to support us in sales and we aim to partner with preschools and primary schools as charity drives to help schools and the community deal with the difficulties that have resulted in our country due to the pandemic,” said Chanel.
