EISEMROTH, Germany (AP) – A year after the coronavirus pandemic began, Katja Heimann, a mother of 11 children, is still trying to keep her spirits up – despite several blocks and months of schooling at home with seven of her children. The secret to her success, she says: structured daily routines, patience and love.
Heimann, who lives with her husband Andre and their children in the small village of Eisemroth, in central Germany, maintains a strict daily schedule to do everything that needs to be done when you have 11 children. This includes a lot of self-discipline: getting up at dawn, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, cooking, and in addition – as schools have been closed to most students in Germany since the end of last year – helping their children with remote learning.
Despite her perseverance, the situation “has become very exhausting recently,” the 41-year-old told the Associated Press in an interview on Thursday.
“The biggest challenge is to move forward,” he added.
Like millions of families in Germany and around the world, the Heimanns are struggling with the daily burden of the pandemic. But where most families, at least in Germany, have to look after one, two, three or rarely four children, the Heimanns have an entire football team with children at home.
The oldest, Milena, 22, has already moved, but lives nearby and comes to visit her several times a week. In addition to the seven school-age children, the Heimanns also have three small children – the youngest just 18 months old – who are still in kindergarten, which was also closed part of the time due to the virus.
“It is very loud here and tight,” said Katja Heimann with a sigh, but also with a smile. When the four high school students are attending video conferences with their teachers, she helps her three elementary students to solve their exercises on the long wooden table in the kitchen.
“At the beginning of home school, we had just one laptop for the whole family – it didn’t work at all,” she said. Friends and neighbors helped quickly, lending their spare devices to the family.
Her husband André, 52, a locksmith, says he is surprised at how his wife manages to keep the family together during the pandemic.
“She takes care of the house, the homework, the kitchen, the cleaning, the paperwork, everything,” he says. “She is amazing.”
Of course, the Heimanns have good days and bad days.
Sometimes children argue with each other, get bored and do not want to do distance learning anymore, but want to go out with friends again – which is not allowed due to distance regulations.
“Of course, we have stress and we also argue,” says Andre. “But in general the situation has brought us closer.”
Across the country, families are bearing the brunt of the pandemic and parents, as well as children, are exhausted by the closure of schools. Although in some German states some schools have been reopened carefully and only for half the size, other states still keep many children in remote teaching mode only.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Germany appeared to have the virus relatively well under control, but things got worse last fall, when the start of the second wave quickly filled hospitals and brought the death toll. Since November, the country’s 83 million inhabitants have lived under various blockade measures. Restaurants, bars and many leisure options remain closed.
However, despite the restrictions, infection numbers in Germany have increased again in recent weeks, as the most contagious virus variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.
Germany has recorded more than 75,000 deaths since the pandemic began a year ago. On Thursday, the country’s disease control center reported 22,657 new cases confirmed daily, compared to 17,504 a week ago.
Getting the infection is a constant fear for the Heimanns, as their 3-year-old son, Oskar, suffers from a rare genetic disease, has an intellectual disability and is therefore especially vulnerable.
“We have two at-risk patients in our family – Oskar with his genetic defect and my husband,” says Katja Heimann. “So we live in constant fear that someone will bring the infection home.”
Despite their concerns, some of the children have started returning to school part-time recently and are expecting full-time classes again soon.
“The best thing will be when we can all go back to school every day and meet and play in groups again,” says 10-year-old Martha.
“And playing football again, which is currently canceled – which is really a stupid thing,” adds brother Willi, 12.
The rest of the Heimann family also can’t wait for the pandemic to end.
“The most important thing will be when children can finally be children again and enjoy their hobbies”, says father André. “That they are no longer bored and can go wherever they want and do what they want again.”
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin.