6 days Ago By Will Gore
Five years ago, the Easter holidays were taking on a different hue. Whereas now I can enjoy my annual leave by taking the kids out for pizza, or to see their grandparents, or to the high street to buy new shoes, back in 2020 we were in the midst of the first Covid lockdown. Almost nothing normal was possible.
Looking at photographs of that time, they appear to record every lockdown trope imaginable. We were making bread, growing vegetables in pots, having picnics in our small garden and doing online quizzes with friends. The images mostly look quite jolly, but of course, I didn’t take photos of the tears, the rages, the tantrums – or of the ambulance that drew up to the house opposite to take away a neighbour who never returned.
In the very early days, when you felt as if you might catch the virus just by hearing another person sneeze, I would sometimes take my daily turn around the block after dark. It took me two or three days to realise that the main reason I felt so unnerved was not because I was frightened of meeting a germ-filled fellow nightwalker but simply because of the silence. With few people about, barely any vehicles on the roads and not a plane in the sky, the nights were quiet and beautiful.
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addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }Once I got to grips with that, those daily walks became my solace in an otherwise bleak time. Indeed, as time went by, I walked longer and longer distances, sometimes alone and sometimes with the family. The guidance about a walk not exceeding an hour appeared to have been invented by Michael Gove on the hoof one day as he prepared to go for a run: we ignored him.
#color-context-related-article-3617315 {--inews-color-primary: #3759B7;--inews-color-secondary: #EFF2FA;--inews-color-tertiary: #3759B7;} Read Next square WILL GORE My nine-year-old son is obsessed with stocks and shares - I've created a monsterRead MoreOur children – then four and ten – had reacted differently to lockdown. Our daughter, the elder, was thrilled by the prospect of seclusion; our son was confused and enraged. Being outside under 2020’s ironically clear and sunny skies forced the former to remember there was a world she had to engage with and enabled the latter to blow off some steam without hitting.
It also gave him access to sticks, which was occasionally problematic.We would walk from our house into the countryside, through woods and over fields, along lanes and on the towpath of the canal. We would wear our masks while we were still in the town, then afterwards stuff them into our pockets and breathe properly – trying not to scream into the void.
To incentivise the kids, we created a chart which recorded our miles walked, with prizes for major milestones. We discovered new places and had fun, and amidst so much illness and suffering, we probably became fitter than we had ever been. Thankfully, none of us caught Covid until many months later.
Half a decade on, and the sun is shining again, and we are free to do as we please. And can I get the kids excited about the prospect of a delightful family walk in the countryside? Can I hell.if(window.
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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }My daughter, with mock exams at the start of next term, has commendably buried herself in revision.
My son has buried himself in YouTube. I can no longer tell them that a four-mile hike is basically a government-mandated prescription, so they know they can turn down my entreaties with impunity. The days when I could interest them in a route on a map are long gone, and a wooden stick seems less appealing when a trip out of the house feels entirely unexceptional.
I tend to focus on the health benefits, but perhaps that only serves to remind the kids of why we went on those Covid walks, and they may well prefer to forget that period. In any case, they know they can leave the house whenever they like, so they would rather it was for an activity of their choosing: shopping with a friend, or to watch a football match.Indeed, it’s quite possible that I’m simply dissembling.
I want them to love the idea of a long country walk because I love the idea of a long country walk. And I want them to be excited by the prospect of spending time with me because I’m suddenly conscious that it will not be long until they fly the nest.I know in my heart there is nothing to be gained by trying to force your children to do anything they don’t want to do, however good it might be for them.
They will return to country walks in their own sweet time – or find other ways to be active that bring them the kind of joy that a jaunt into the hills used to bring.In the meantime, however, I’m not going to give up quite that easily. During my week off, which has mainly been spent doing odd jobs in the garden, I have made it my mission to get them out into the woods, however lukewarm they seem about it.
I’ve even told them that if they come out for a hike with me, it will end with a pub lunch. And that’s even better than those long ago Covid walks, which simply ended with yet another homemade loaf..
