You’ve probably heard this saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I never really thought about it until I had Alex. My biggest challenge in moving to a new place was building a community. The Covid-19 pandemic was not very helpful either in my attempts of connecting with other people. During this pandemic, it made it harder for us because we can’t go anywhere where Alex can be stimulated mentally and socially. He was stuck with us for a long, long time without playing or interacting with other kids. I am aware that many families were facing similar difficulties and challenges. It’s not easy.
For several years, I’ve collected a lot of children’s books and toys but only a few are age-appropriate for Alex’s age. So Alex is stuck with us. He was tired of his toys and his books. There were times, I was busy at home and couldn’t find time to create anything interesting for him. Then, I started tapping into my community’s resources. I started using the local library more. They provide a great wealth of information on children’s books, music, and DVDs. I’m also grateful that they also provide weekly art projects for children that parents could take and do at home. Their online storytime is quite fun too. At least this gives us a little bit of change in our weekly schedule.
Another thing that I recommend is to look for Buy Nothing groups in your area. This is a Facebook group. Here is a short description of the group, “[Buy Nothing group] offer members a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude through a worldwide network of hyper-local gift economies in which the true wealth is the web of connections formed between people who are real-life neighbors.” I’ve been a member for a couple of years now and I’ve met a lot of wonderful people in this group.
I remember receiving a gift from the Buy Nothing group. It was a Sesame Street DVD that I used for Alex’s speech therapy at home. It facilitated my son’s speech. He started verbalizing new words. It made me really happy and hopeful with his language development. Then someone from the group was secretly leaving Sesame Street items on our front porch. I took these gifts as his/her way of supporting our family in raising Alex. I was touched by their kindness and generosity. I appreciate all of the gifts that we’ve received from this group. But the most precious gift that we’ve received from Buy Nothing was the gift of community.