COVID‐19 and children. From Luis Sepulveda to Madam Mim

Abstract

When Luis Sepulveda was asked about his source of inspiration for writing ‘The Story of a Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her to Fly’, he immediately referred to his children. It took him 2 years to write his masterpiece, translated in over 40 countries with several theatre and film adaptations: the children's own imagination, the surrealism and the language without ambiguities but at the same time full of poetry were all functional to develop and finalise the novel (because there is nothing more difficult than writing a story for children!). COVID-19, which sadly killed the famous Chilean writer, has become a source of daily conversation and the related information overload, rumours and misinformation along with the loss of daily routine and rapidly changing situation may lead to anxiety, depression and loneliness. Children may feel the same and most importantly have often the sense of what the adults surrounding them are feeling. While talking and trying to help children understand what is currently happening as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic can be challenging, this remains crucial to enable them to cope with it and to relieve their fears – at least partially. A series of materials have been developed by international agencies like the Centers for Disease Control1 and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),2 with the aim of building up children self-confidence as well as educating them on hand-washing and other protection measures. The history of cinema could also lend a very important hand on this occasion. As brilliantly exposed by an article in 2017,3 The Sword in the Stone, animated musical fantasy comedy based on the novel of the same name by T.H. White, can provide surprising information about medical knowledge and social impact of an infectious disease, especially as conveyed to non-medical people. In the Sword in the Stone, Merlin challenges Madam Mim to save Arthur and the fight is performed through several magical transformations. Finally, Merlin defeats Madam Mim by transforming himself into a fictional germ called malignalitaloptereosis which infects her (Fig. 1). The choice to defeat Madam Mim by a viral infection is indicative of the knowledge of the risks related to viral diseases. In those years (late 1950s/early 1960s), measles represented a great social and public health problem and a fervid research activity was taking place to counteract it. A very recent collaboration of more than 50 organisations working in the humanitarian sector under the coordination of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG) has led to the production of a new story book (‘My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!’) to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19. The process culminating in this fascinating project included a global survey distributed in Arabic, English, Italian, French and Spanish to assess children's mental health and psychosocial needs during COVID-19 outbreak. Survey results were used to conceive a framework of topics to be addressed through the story. Feedback from over 1700 children, parents, care givers and teachers from around the world took place and helped to review and tailor the final version of the story.4 In this very unusual situation, both the fragility but also the creativity of the childhood brain must be taken into consideration – as Arthur would put it ‘Just because you can't understand something, it doesn't mean it's wrong!’ – and the only way to mitigate the impact of this kind of event on a child's mind is an all-family and all-society approach when dealing with information and measures related to current pandemic – previous examples particularly outside medical background may be extremely helpful to address children's needs during emergencies. Our inspiration has come from our children. Therefore, we would like to express our love to Bianca, Lorenzo Maria, Arianna Shevan, Tessa Emilia and Talitha Julia.