Journal entry of a six-year-old during stay-home notice (SHN) [2]

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"This photograph shows a 6-year-old's journal entry. Having returned to Singapore from the US, our family of 4 was to fulfil our Stay Home Notice (SHN) at a designated hotel. As we have young children with us, we prepared for the SHN as though we were preparing for a ''glamping" trip. In order to minimise mess from mealtimes and to ensure we could be as comfortable "living" in the hotel room as possible, we packed extra portable furniture and a whole luggage full of activities, worksheets, craft materials to keep the kids occupied. We had some unwanted roommates (i.e. cockroaches) for the first week of our stay. However, we understood that this was probably unavoidable since hotel rooms were not designed for extended stay without regular housekeeping anyway. The hotel did their best to rectify the problem, but it still took a while before we stop seeing any more roaches. Despite that, our spirits were kept high by the ability to order in our local delights and hawker fares to satisfy our cravings -- something we had missed dearly during our time in the US. Over time, as we recovered from our jetlag, we also turned the hotel room into a classroom filled with painting, clay works, games, learning exercises etc. We are grateful for the comfortable stay, delicious meals and clean linens the hotel staff had worked diligently to provide us. And despite having to stay indoors for 2 weeks, the kids had adjusted well. We also understood from the hotel staff that they were thankful for the SHN bookings as the lack of tourists meant the hotel staff would otherwise be out of work. It takes immense vision, coordination and trust in our system for the SHN arrangements to be affected so seamlessly. Having witnessed how haphazard the Covid19 management was in the States, we are really thankful to be home."--Contributed by Tan Kai Li, as part of the "Documenting COVID-19 in Singapore" collection community call. This photograph shows a journal entry by a six-year-old during her stay home notice (SHN) with her family at a hotel. All returning Singaporeans had to serve two weeks of SHN during the pandemic. Additional description by Library staff. Title devised by Library staff.