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Yesterday was not a particularly good day, and I was too tired at the end of it to write anything. Emma is not a willful or fractious child, but there was some acting out that occurred yesterday afternoon. All three of us struggled with feelings of boredom and anxiety. At the end of the day, as she was getting ready for bed, Emma said, "Daddy, I don't like today." Which about summed it up.

Yesterday Boris Johnson said the UK could "turn the tide" on the coronavirus outbreak in 12 weeks. The thought of doing this for 12 weeks is almost unimaginable. We are taking it day by day. What choice do we have?

Parents at Emma's school are thinking that the school's closure (labeled as "indefinite") will be something akin to a holiday, when they will be able to tackle things they've been putting off while spending quality time with family. I'm not sure whether or not this is willful ignorance on their part, but I hate to break it to them: this isolation thing is a prison sentence, not a holiday. Their kids have been in school all week and life has been more or less normal for them. I will wait to see how these same parents feel after several days of self-isolation.

Emma has managed to do bits of work here and there, although her focus isn't great. She is writing in a journal (she says it's private, so we can't read it) and doing some projects on Scratch. Yesterday I ordered a couple puzzles for us to do together. Her favorite activity of the  day is playing Minecraft online with friends or cousins, which is usually from 2 to 3:30 each afternoon. And we do make sure to get outside each day. This morning we fed the ducks on the river and played in the playground (alone, with gloves on -- and then dutifully washed hands when we returned). We are trying to keep her connected with other kids her own age (right now she is talking on the phone to one of her best friends from school).




In terms of my own attempts at maintaining mental and physical health, I have found the six-minute workouts offered online by the New York Times to be very good:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/well/move/in-6-minutes-you-can-be-done-with-your-workout.html

No major plans for the weekend. I think we might try to get outside somewhere; perhaps a National Trust property or the Cambridge Botanic Garden (which has opened its doors to all, free of charge).



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