While many of us struggle to find things to do with all the free time we have with current stay-at-home orders, a couple of BYU-Idaho alumni decided to put a couple of weeks of their time to a very productive cause.
Jake and Laura Dickson now live in North Carolina with their five-year-old daughter, Freya.
Since the pandemic, Freya has asked her parents many questions like, “Why can’t I go to school?” or “Why can’t I go see my friends?”
Jake and Laura decided to teach Freya about the current state of the world with a book, a book they wrote and illustrated.
“We collected those questions up, “Jake said. “[We wrote] some of the background and some of the explanations as described by the CDC, and what's going on, in a way that children can understand it.”
Jake and Laura combined their skills to create “Freya Stays Home,” a children’s book designed to teach children about the pandemic.
When Jake and Laura finished the book, they sat down with Freya and they say she came to understand more about what’s happening around her.
“After we finished the book, we let her look at the pictures,” Jake said. “She actually came up with more questions.”
Now when Freya asks a question, she’ll follow it with something like, “Is it because of the pandemic?” Jake said Freya also asks less often to visit people.
Jake and Laura hope their book will teach other children about the pandemic, and they say they plan on writing more material in the future.
“Freya Stays Home” is available on Amazon in paperback and on Amazon Kindle. Check it out here.