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At Play Scotland we have always been aware of the importance of play for everyone – and equally aware that teenagers and young people do not call what they do in their free time “play”.  However, the new restrictions on their freedoms will make what they usually do less easy and sometimes impossible – so how will they get the ‘play’ they need, remain in contact with their friends and deal with the stresses of this new world?  We asked a teenager to keep a diary of their thoughts…

Day 1: Monday 23rd March am

I wake up to my alarm and think about what I could get up to today. I have no school which means no homework. This is a pleasant change from my usual Monday mornings. For me, schools being shut down makes me very pleased. But for some of my friends, this isn’t the case. Due to the fact of me being in my final year of high school, most of my classmates were counting on the next few weeks of school to give them the time to finish assignments which could help them get into university. The cancellation of exams has also been an added stress for those who had conditional offers for colleges and universities. The early school closures has left my year without a leavers day, a prom, a yearbook and lots of other sixth year events that we will sadly miss out on. 

I’ll going to try my best to make this change of events into a positive thing. Every day I am going to try and do something I enjoy or something I’ve never done before. I will also make sure to get lots of fresh air and exercise. This will keep me busy and mentally stimulated throughout this pandemic which I think is vital. Today I am going to bake my favourite brownies. This will keep me occupied for a couple hours and will be a special dessert for my family and I after our dinner.  At least that’s my plan for day 1.  Let’s see how it goes. 

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