Doctor writes book to help his preschooler understand why COVID-19 has changed life

Explaining a global pandemic to a child isn’t easy — not even for a doctor.

When his son Kiren, 4, started asking why life was suddenly so different, Dr. Darien Heap of Olympia wished for a children’s book about the novel coronavirus and why it’s necessary to stay at home, wash your hands thoroughly and wear masks.

“We read together at night, and I thought, ‘I wish I had something that could convey to him what is going on,’ ” he told The Olympian. “I went on Amazon and looked for a book on COVID, and there was nothing. I did a Google search, and there was nothing.”

So Heap, a gastroenterologist, wrote the book he wanted to share with his son. The result, due out in the next month or so, is “When Will We Play Again?” a self-published picture book illustrated by Corey Macourek of Tacoma.

“I never dreamt about writing a book, but these are very unusual circumstances we find ourselves in,” Heap said.

Heap and his family are living more intimately with the realities of the disease than many in Thurston County: His wife, Dr. Gita Patel, is a pulmonary critical-care doctor taking care of patients with COVID-19 at Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

“It was King and Pierce counties that had the majority of cases in the state, and my wife was there in the middle of it,” Heap said. “We’ve been walking on eggshells this whole six weeks or so.

‘She changes out of her scrubs in the garage. Those immediately go into the washing machine on sanitize, and then she goes straight to the shower to wash before coming out and interacting with the rest of us.”

Kiren, who’s in pre-kindergarten at Evergreen Christian School, had questions about why his mom was at work so much and why he, his dad and his grandparents were suddenly spending most of their time at home.

Those questions as well as the relationship between father and son inspired the story, which follows the twosome as they cook together, play indoors and visit a grandparent at a safe distance.

“The story is told from the child’s perspective,” Heap said. “It’s about how the world is upside down right now, and how he and his father are negotiating it.”

Illustrator Macourek said this wasn’t just another project for him. “The book is a very important tool to initiate conversation and honesty about the pandemic with our children,” he said.

The book is matter-of-fact about the need to wash hands, maintain social distance and wear masks.

“You don’t want your children to panic,” Macourek said. “It’s important to instill some hope.”

In fact, Heap ended the book with a reminder of the good times families can share during a time of restrictions and fears.

“We’ve all been putting our lives on hold,” he said. “We have a lot more time together now. We need to stop putting life on hold, and we need to start building new memories.”

‘When Will We Play Again?’

The picture book about life in the time of coronavirus, by Dr. Darien Heap of Olympia, is due to be published in 4 to 6 weeks by Lulu Press and will also be available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

More resources

Check out these online guides to resources aimed at helping parents teach their children about coronavirus and reassure them during the pandemic:

• http://childmind.org/coping-during-covid-19-resources-for-parents/
• http://ectacenter.org/topics/disaster/coronavirus-talking.asp
• http://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-climate-safety-and-crisis/health-crisis-resources/helping-children-cope-with-changes-resulting-from-covid-19
• http://stemie.fpg.unc.edu/covid-19-resources-families-help-children-understand-covid-19
• http://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/emergency/index.html

This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 5:40 AM.