Suzi, from Dunstable, UK, sent in this great idea. Let’s take a look at it…
What did you do?
During lockdown Joy Stock, age 10, from Dunstable has been taking photos of her giant teddy bear and his daily antics on our front lawn! Local people enjoy seeing him each day and he has many followers online (we have a facebook and Instagram page).
He has: washed the car, done the ironing, mowed the lawn, done gardening, fixed the car… lots of jobs! But he’s also had fun; camped under the stars, had a mini festival, had BBQs, picnics and lots more. Joy did this to make people smile who might be fed up in lockdown. She soon began raising money for our local hospital and to date has raised £1,450.
We’ve tried to help in the community too – Mr Hugley did a foodbank collection and we took that to our local foodbank. We’ve baked cakes for the hospital to say thank you. Mr Hugley has also taken time to say thanks to teachers, binmen, postal workers, shop keepers and more. We’ve also encouraged local small businesses to get involved by loaning us props for an antic in return for some advertising for their business.
The whole project has been great fun and made us get very creative; thinking of new ideas each day and making props. It’s gone down so well and we get lots of messages of thanks and support. Joy has been interviewed on two radio stations and appeared in a local newspaper and magazine.
Do you have any other projects planned?
Our latest project was to write a book – which we have just recently achieved. Most of our ideas with Mr Hugley have mirrored a story of lockdown life for us all – doing jobs, feeling fed up, making fun despite the situation and helping others. So we decided it would be good to document this – we wrote a short book together in the form of a fun poem and self-published it on Amazon. It’s available to buy as eBook for £2.99 or paperback £4.99. Profits will go to the hospital. We hope the book makes people smile and we think it would make a nice keepsake of lockdown life for people to look back on. It’s also a good way to generate conversation with children about their experiences during this time.
Tell the Housebound With Kids community a bit about yourself…
My name is Suzi and I am Joy’s mum. Myself and my husband have 5 children (27, 24, 15, 13 and 10) and we also run a childcare business together looking after 20 children. We live in Dunstable in England, UK. Joy is Mr Hugley’s owner and she is 10. This project was her idea but I have helped her and as a family we have all got involved with ideas. Mr Hugley has been with us around 5 years now – he got his name because he is very cuddly. Also, when Joy was younger she called a hug or a cuddle, a huggle.
How are you finding being housebound so far?
As we are childcarers we have stayed open but only for key worker children. This has been tricky at times as we have not let our own children go out, yet we have allowed others in to our house – only a few children, but still a risk. Despite still working for the same hours (just for a LOT less pay!) we have found we have a lot more time. This is because our own children do not have any of their usual activities to do so all our evenings are spent together.
Sometimes its been boring. Sometimes its been an uphill struggle to get school work done. But mostly it’s been good to have quality time together – we started doing nightly quizzes; taking turns to write the quiz. We’ve cooked together more and had more time to plan new meals. And of course, doing Mr Hugley together has kept us busy. It’s made every day different and given us something to focus on when we felt fed up.
Do you have any tips for other parents?
My main tips would be – don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t believe everything you read on social media. People like to present the best version of themselves online – it’s not always totally accurate. And some people need to post the good bits to motivate them in the hard times – it’s not that what they post is untrue… it’s just you don’t get to hear all the boring or tricky bits! No one has experienced the world like it is right now and we all have different situations so we can’t compare how we deal with it to someone else.
Give yourself some grace. Also, let the children get bored sometimes!! Boredom nurtures imagination. We live in a world of entertainment and so it can be hard to entertain ourselves… but let the children feel bored, give them space to make their own fun and tap into their creative side.
Has being part of our community helped you?
I think it is a really good forum with lots of advice and support. I like all the ideas people share.
