I hope the kids will be alright

I hope the kids will be alright

During the lockdown, I had the fortune of putting together the creative writing of the young people we worked with during the 2019/20 school year into new publications. Their writing made the first few weeks of living in lockdown bearable.

There was so much creativity, fun, and hope in the writing they produced. I was filled with pride at all they were able to accomplish during the writing workshops we conducted at their schools.

About five months have passed since the completion of our last writing workshops and the beginning of the lockdown here in Scotland. Covid-19 changed all of our worlds and none more so than those of young people the world over. They have been away from the regularity of school, separated from physically seeing friends, and isolated in a way many of us have never experienced before.

We like to say children are resilient, but I am concerned that being resilient may not be enough. How can we help them deal with the emotions that have been stirred up from isolation and the uncertainty that is now the world we live in? I believe creative writing can help.

At the Super Power Agency, we are making the theme for our workshops this new school year ‘Writing for Wellbeing.’ With the help of our dedicated corps of volunteers, our job will be to help young people and give them a safe space to express how they feel, voice their experiences and cope with the emotions that may be surfacing because of the pandemic and the lockdown through writing.

Our hope is that through storytelling we can help enhance their wellbeing, allowing them the opportunity to tell their lockdown stories, talk about what they think and want the new post-crisis world to be, or the chance to just write whatever they fancy.

As schools re-open and we all re-enter life, let’s not forget to help our young people by helping them process what they may be feeling and be there for them when they have questions. They need to be listened to and we should be honest with our feelings and thoughts about what becomes of our world post-Covid.Often young people are left out of the conversations the adults are having about the world around them. Let’s take this opportunity we have to create a ‘new normal’ that includes what children have to say. I started this saying I hope the kids will be alright and I think they will be. It will take all of us to make sure they have the confidence and skills they need to survive the post-crisis world.