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• 2020-05-18

  The Impact of Virtual Story Time During Coronavirus Stay-at-Home Orders

  The Impact of Virtual Story Time During Coronavirus Stay-at-Home Orders COVID-19 has put the world on pause in many ways, including forcing people to remain in their houses for months on end. While staying inside and away from others is for the safety of oneself as well as their communities, it’s easy to feel the urge to leave. In order to stay inside and keep everyone safe, then, it’s crucial that we all find ways to fill our time. For students, this means trying to navigate online classes and keep up with friends that they otherwise would have been seeing everyday. For some adults, this means trying to balance a job that is now entirely online with taking care of the family. For many, it means desperately filling out unemployment forms and waiting in line for hours on end to be given the food they need to feed their kids. This time at home is different for everyone and by no means easy for anyone, but one of the most commonly talked about groups right now is families with young kids. Not only do the parents not have to manage their kids all day long – feeding them, helping them with online classes even as early as preschool, and keeping them entertained – while also trying to handle their own jobs, but many of the kids don’t even understand what’s going on. As young kids, they want to be able to go to school and play with their friends, but they’re now restricted to their houses like everyone else. In order to help parents and entertain the kids, then, many teachers and celebrities are recording videos of themselves reading in order to create a virtual story time. While some of the videos are meant to teach the kids about why they have to stay home and what’s happening in the world, most are meant to simply entertain the kids and give their parents a little break. As insignificant as it may seem for a teacher, librarian, or celebrity to record themself reading a book, hundreds, if not thousands, of people have started doing it and it serves as the perfect time of relief for both young kids and their parents. Gretchen Grewe, Fordham University, SOCI 2800