COVID kids follows the Hystad family and their nanny, Anika Hale, to see how they have adapted to the pandemic and what their lives look like now that they have returned to some level of normalcy.  Anika started working for the Hystads in August of 2020; within the first six months of the pandemic.  She was originally hired to help Finn, the eldest, with online school but has continued to work with all three Hystad children as their parents return to physical offices and their two youngest, Oliver and Madeline, begin school.  Wrapping up our interview, Anika left these words hanging in the air: “Everything takes time”.    

“[Quarantine] was a traumatic experience.  We all went to the park one time and Oliver cried the whole walk there.  He sat on the bench and watched other people play because he was so anxious about interacting with and touching other kids.”

-Anika Hale

“Oliver and Finn think interacting with people is very important.  They go out of their way to interact with other kids and always ask to stay after school to play with their friends.”

-Anika Hale

Asking about Madeline’s reaction to the pandemic as opposed to her brothers’:

“Toddlers are resilient.  There are things that she hasn’t had, though… there was one time where Maddie was upset because she had no friends to invite to her birthday party.”      

-Anika Hale