The Kids Are not Alright.
An economic shutdown to curb the virus has meant that many pillars of American childhood, like ice cream trucks and McDonald’s PlayPlace, are off limits due to the nature of their friendship with children, because where children go, the germs continue.
That means kids like Blake McLennan from Phoenix have to grow up pretty fast, but not without a good tantrum. In April, his parents captured his collapse upon learning that his favorite activities do not currently exist.
The three-minute video begins mid-speech as Blake sits at the dining room table with his parents.
“So now, everything in this world has to be closed completely. No one has to go anywhere because they are closed. The ice cream truck is closed, ”she sobs. In the background, you can also hear another child crying.
She adds, “We can’t go anywhere, not even McDonald’s, which is my favorite restaurant.”
(However, he seemed to have a beautiful birthday party in May, when he turned 5).
The melodramatic material was originally captured near the start of the US coronavirus outbreak, and was posted to the family Instagram account @MacHouseBlanc on April 2, where it has been viewed more than 230,000 times since then. However, the clip took a hit from “mafia gardener” Ron Finley, who has 157,000 followers on the social media platform. There, the video has garnered more than 1.1 million views.
As Blake recounts the many injustices of the pandemic, her father tries to comfort his desperate daughter.
“You can pick up McDonald’s at the drive-thru,” he says. Incredulous, he explains that it will not be the same as prepandemic.
“If you go through the drive-thru it’s boring because you have to wait for your food to arrive. If you are inside, playing on the playground, it wouldn’t be boring, ”she says. “It is boring waiting for the food to arrive.”
Even Sunday school, with its “candy and toys,” is canceled for now. “It is really fun,” she says. “I just wanted to have fun … and now everything in this world has to be closed.”
Why go on?
Blake does not blame lawmakers or his parents for the restrictions. In fact, their understanding of why viral outbreaks occur is more compelling than that of many adults.
“I mean why do germs spread to people if they don’t want them to pass it on to them, because everyone doesn’t like germs because they get sick. And everything has to be closed so that everyone is safe. And it’s not fair because everything that’s fun has to be closed. And the only thing that is open is nothing. Nothing!”
A voice of unwelcome reason, his father, intervenes again at the end of the video: “But we are doing it so that everyone can be safe, right?”
His words don’t resonate with Blake, who then turns to his mother and asks, “Mom, can I play on my iPad tomorrow?”
The same, Blake. Same.
.
