Keeping a diary during a pandemic has value and can be potentially cathartic. Even kids could start one to write about their experiences with their inner most thoughts and feelings while sheltering in place through words that could later be shared. Taking pictures related to your time with being home or dealing with life as we return to the world would be something we and others in the family would really find interesting.
A daily entry in a diary can be beneficial for spurring creativity for teaching children how to write. Encourage them to use descriptive words in their sentences for painting a picture of what they are trying to say. Think of each new entry in the daily log as a practice session to expand their writing skills beyond basic grammar to interest a reader and feel what they are trying to get across.
Growing up, I used to love exploring my grandmother’s attic with her trunk that was full of old photos. I could sit up there for hours sifting through them and imagine the details of what was going on. Where did the cat one relative was holding come from? Who was the kid standing next to my relative in the picture? What was going on at the time? These things swirled around in my mind and I could never truly answer them. However, it would have been interesting to have read details along with a date to accompany those old photos to provide more insight into those shots that were taken.
I had relatives who went through the 1918 Spanish flu, whose first case was in Kansas by the way, but I don’t have anything other that what was passed on from relative to relative. It would be so much better to have a first hand account. Pictures and videos would have added so much as well. Now we can do all this. And later generations may not find this interesting now, but someday they will. Haven’t you wondered about those old photos you run across? They are like time capsules and now we are living through so much where keeping a diary during a pandemic could have real value that could also help tighten family bonds through later talking and sharing.
Of course, when you think about it we always live through interesting times. Some are tragic like now and some are great. We could be jotting down a few brief notes and snapping some photos or recording videos and uploading to the cloud or locking them down in digital form somewhere. Face it, USB thumb drives are huge and inexpensive and even DVD-R’s and older formats are so cheap. Tossing those memories just in a folder on a drive that you migrate to computer to computer or synced with some online cloud would be fascinating to look at 10 or 20 years later.
With all that is possible for mental health and creative inspiration, there is true value in keeping a diary during a pandemic regardless of the form of a daily log that you choose to keep. Whether you prefer writing in a diary or a journal where you could also include notes, perhaps, on prices of the food and items you bought to sketches or other ideas, journaling what is happening as a part of it can be a lasting record that is also productive for obtaining future goals.
