EISEMROTH, Germany (AP) – A year after the coronavirus pandemic, eleven-year-old mother Katja Heimann is still trying to keep her spirit, despite several blockages and months of home education of seven of her children. The secret of his success, he says: structured daily routines, patience and love.
Heimann, who lives with her husband Andre and their children in the small village of Eisemroth in central Germany, maintains a strict daily schedule to do everything that needs to be done when they have 11 children. This includes a lot of self-discipline: getting up in the morning, cleaning the house, washing clothes, cooking, and also because schools have been closed to most students in Germany since late last year. , help your children remotely. learning.
Despite her perseverance, the situation “has become very exhausting lately,” the 41-year-old told The Associated Press in an interview.
“The biggest challenge is to continue,” he added.
Like millions of families in Germany and around the world, the Heimann are struggling with the daily burdens of the pandemic. But where most families, at least in Germany, have to take care of one, two, three or rarely four children, the Heimanns have a whole children’s football team at home.
The eldest, 22-year-old Milena, has already moved, but lives nearby and comes to visit her several times a week. In addition to the seven school-age children, the Heimanns also have three little ones, the youngest only 18 months old, who are still in daycare, which has also been closed a few times due to the virus.
“It’s very noisy and cramped here,” Katja Heimann said with a sigh, but also with a smile. When the four high school students engage in video conferencing with their teachers, she helps her three elementary students solve their exercises on the long wooden kitchen table.
“At the beginning of school at home, we only had one laptop for our whole family, which didn’t work at all,” he said. Friends and neighbors helped quickly, lending their spare devices to the family.
Husband Andre, 52, a locksmith, says he is afraid of how his wife manages to keep her family together during the pandemic.
“She takes care of the home, the homework, the kitchen, the cleaning, the paperwork, everything,” she says. “It’s incredible”.
Of course, the Heimann have good and bad days.
Sometimes children argue with each other, get bored and no longer want to do remote learning, but they do want to hang out with their friends again, which is not allowed due to distancing regulations.
“Of course, we have stress and we also argue,” Andre says. “But overall, the situation brought us closer.”
Across the country, families are suffering from the weight of the pandemic and parents and children are exhausted by the continued closure of schools. Although in some German states some schools have reopened carefully and only for average attendance, other states keep many children only in remote learning mode.
At the start of the pandemic, Germany appeared to have the virus relatively well controlled, but things got worse last fall, when the onset of the second wave quickly filled hospitals and increased the number of deaths. Since November, the country’s 83 million people have been living under various closure measures. Restaurants, bars and many leisure facilities remain closed.
However, despite the restrictions, the number of infections in Germany has risen again in recent weeks, as the most contagious virus variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.
Germany has recorded more than 75,000 deaths since the pandemic erupted a year ago. On Thursday, the country’s disease control center reported 22,657 new confirmed daily cases, up from 17,504 the previous week.
Getting the infection is a constant fear for the Heimanns, as their 3-year-old son Oskar suffers from a rare genetic disease, has an intellectual disability and is therefore especially vulnerable.
“We have two at-risk patients in our family: Oskar with his genetic defect and my husband,” says Katja Heimann. “So we live with the constant fear that someone will bring the infection home.”
Despite their concerns, some of the children recently started going back to school part-time and hope to return to full-time classes soon.
“The best thing will be when we can all go back to school every day and meet and play in groups again,” says 10-year-old Martha.
“And playing football again which is currently canceled, which is really stupid,” adds 12-year-old brother Willi.
The rest of the Heimann family can’t wait for the pandemic to end either.
“The most important thing will be when the kids can be kids again and enjoy their hobbies,” Father Andre says. “Let them no longer get bored and be able to go where they want and go back to doing what they love to do.”
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin.