Kids groan the discomfort of wearing masks but warn ‘COVID can give you tummy aches’
By Cristina DC Pastor
Kids say the darndest things; they also dispense the wisest advice.
Zed Alexander Payumo, 7, stressed the importance of wearing a mask because “COVID can make you sick and give you tummy aches.”
A second grader at Success Academy Hudson Yards, Zed, however, is a little bummed that people have to wear masks because “I can’t remember them.” He meant people he is meeting for the first time and whose faces are half-shielded. “But if I come to their house, I can remember them.”
If you work the cash register at a cafe, he admonished, “You should wear a mask.”
Zed’s parents Augee Francisco and Joey Payumo own the very popular coffee shop Kabisera in Lower Manhattan. He said, “Take your mask at home after the restaurant. Or just stay home when they don’t deliver your masks. Wait till they deliver your masks.”
He believes doctors and scientists can “get rid” of COVID “with a plan.” He meant the vaccine. “If it works, they will test it on people.” He can’t wait for the pandemic to be over so he doesn’t have to keep his face covered most times.
Recognizing that the pandemic has been “stressful to many,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that children 2 years and older wear masks. They should be worn in public or around people who are not members of the same household.
Natalie Ava Habana, 7, a second grader at Memorial School in Emerson, New Jersey, thinks people who wear masks “voted for Joe Biden.” She insists that people wear them for the sake of safety. Younger brother Julian Bayani, 5, who goes to the same school, puts it starkly: “Wear a mask so you don’t die.”
Both children of Venessa Manzano and Mark Habana swear to wearing masks although they’re too young to be Biden voters. When kids listen to reason at home and in school, chances are they understand the science behind washing one’s hands and avoiding packed crowds to keep the virus from spreading and sending people to hospitals.
The Habana siblings, together with elder brother Xavier Laurence, understand the word “quarantine” and why they take classes in front of a computer. The family has been rediscovering the joys of just being together baking Cookie Monsters and playing card games.
Trinity Hope Bosley of Hanover, Maryland thinks masks “look good” on people. Although she has complained to her parents Michael Dwain Bosley and Imelda Antoc-Bosley that masks make it hard for her to breathe sometimes, she makes it a point to wear one when the family goes out.
“I can’t really breathe when I’m wearing a mask. That’s why sometimes I put it down a little bit so I can breathe some air,” said the 6-year-old student of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia
Trinity – who loves skating, reading books, and competing in beauty contests — thinks people are “being careful” when they go out, faces covered. And what about those who refuse? “They are so ‘bastos’ and they’ll get sick.”
She prays that “Papa God will make the Coronavirus go away.”
© The FilAm 2020
