Dear Jido,
How do I talk to my five-year-old son about the coronavirus – without scaring him to death? How can I explain to him why he can’t go school, shul, or even to the playground? This is something that I can’t even process. How is a five year old going to comprehend what is going on – without being scarred for his life?
Signed,
Quarantined with a Five Year Old
Dear Q,
Daddy, how come there’s no more school? And how come you don’t go to work anymore? And why can’t my friends come over and play with me?
Those are good questions, Abie. I’ll try to explain. You know how when you come home from the park or from playing outside Mommy always tells you, “Abie, be sure to wash your hands!”? Why do you think she says that?
I don’t know.
Because when you have dirt on your hands they have germs.
What’s a germ?
It’s something really, really small that you can’t see, but it can make you sick.
So that’s why they closed my school?
Almost. You see right now there is a germ out there that no one can see and nobody knows who has it. But the doctors know, a LOT of people have it. So in order that the kids in school and your rebbes and your morahs don’t get sick, they closed the school.
Why don’t they just wash their hands like I do?
Ahh, good. You see, this germ isn’t only on your hands. It stays on your body. And it goes, laddy-dah-di-dah-di-dah. And it waits to jump from one person to another. And if it doesn’t find somebody else to go to, after two weeks it just goes, woops! And it goes away. So that’s what we’re waiting for.
That mean I am going to get sick? And you? And Mommy?
No, like I said, if we didn’t get sick since we’ve been home, we should ALL BE OKAY.
Be’ezrat Hashem.
Jido