"People think children don’t get stressed, but they do. The lockdown has really affected them." Lauren's* Story This week only (8th-15th June 2021), all donations to Hestia are doubled, and will help us to provide activities over the summer for children living in our domestic abuse refuges. After a year of uncertainty, help us to give children the summer they deserve. Double my donation Me and my three children, aged ten, six and two, arrived at Hestia’s domestic abuse refuge in January, right as the third lockdown started. Mentally, it’s been really hard having them all indoors this whole time. There is a garden with a slide and a swing so they do go out when the weather is good, but when it’s not, I have to keep them inside. My six-year-old has autism, so it has also been difficult to take him out where we live. It’s right by a busy road with lots of noise and traffic and that can be overwhelming for him. We are all in one room together, so the children have been arguing all the time. It gets too much for them sometimes. People think children don’t really get stressed, but they do. The lockdown has really affected them. A few times we have had someone come and run activity sessions for them, such as painting or drawing. It made them so happy to have something to do. They were working together on their paintings and I could tell it made them calmer. As the restrictions have eased, I have tried taking them out. We went to the park but it was too windy and we had to come home. Our nearest shopping centre is a 20-minute walk away, and they are too tired by the time we get there. With the summer approaching, it would be a massive help to have more activities for them to do. It would keep them occupied and give me an hour break here and there, so I can call my mum or relax. Physically and mentally, I need that break. They are really looking forward to it too. I have tried to do as much as I can, like take them out for a walk so they can get fresh air, but they need to do things they want to do, like swimming and gardening or going to the cinema. The restrictions have been a challenge for them and they haven’t been able to do what they enjoy for so long. I’m so excited for things to open up again so we can hopefully start to do more together. Double my donation Manage Cookie Preferences