{"id":269,"date":"2022-03-30T11:09:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T18:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/essential\/?page_id=269"},"modified":"2022-06-06T09:35:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T16:35:06","slug":"maria-luz","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.wsu.edu\/essential\/maria-luz\/","title":{"rendered":"Maria Luz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

En espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mar\u00eda Luz<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Quite Normal<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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They would come here frustrated \u2026 Confined \u2026 they weren\u2019t going anywhere \u2026  but I\u2019m seeing that everything is normalized now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About My Picture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I barely took any pictures this year, this past year, because of Covid and all that, and I was feeling pretty stressed. Rather, I focused only on cleaning, on educating myself, educating the parents, educating the children, that\u2019s what I spent my time on.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had little tables and I kept them separated from one another. During summer when it was hot, we would paint with brushes, with paint. But yeah, I have several puzzles and one child at each table, separated \u2026 each one at their table alone.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to put away a lot of toys, to leave fewer for the kids so they wouldn\u2019t be taking all of them.  Especially, the sculpting clay – I had to cancel it. And the sandbox, I had to cancel it too because I couldn\u2019t be washing the sand every day. I have a [sand] tub outside. I wash the sand [with the hose] and I get clean water on it. And in that time I couldn\u2019t, because of the same thing, to protect the kids … And I bought for each individual child their little box of crayons, their little box with paper; each child has their individual box.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Interview with Mar\u00eda Luz<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mar\u00eda Luz is used to caring for children from their early years until they are able to stay home by themselves. She discussed multiple Covid-related challenges to her work, including managing intensified health and safety protocols, dealing with unreliable internet access for her school-age children\u2019s remote schooling, and the stress she sensed children were experiencing due to Covid-related upset to their routines and activities at home. Especially stressful, Mar\u00eda Luz said, was learning well after the fact that several mothers of children in her care (had) had Covid: \u201cI didn\u2019t find out until later, because they got sick, but they didn\u2019t say so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, and perhaps due to her rigorous adherence to health and safety protocols, no one in Mar\u00eda Luz\u2019s home contracted Covid. But she nevertheless had to deal with its most tragic consequences after one of the children\u2019s mothers, only 30 years old, died from it about a year earlier. The woman\u2019s three-year-old son has remained in Mar\u00eda Luz\u2019s care throughout. Initially, she said, he was sad and would not talk.\u00a0 She remarked on how the other children, who knew \u201cthat he doesn\u2019t have his mother anywhere, that she went with God,\u201d treated the boy lovingly, as if he were a member of their own and Mar\u00eda Luz\u2019s family. \u201cHe looks at me as if I were his mom,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I pay a lot of attention to him. He does well here\u2026he didn\u2019t used to talk almost at all and now he talks fine, everything, he does his routine, he\u2019s quite normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was hard for me, and for them\u2026But now, thank God, everyone\u2019s already vaccinated, those I know, those that live here and me too, and everything is returning to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From full interview transcript of 2,188 words<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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