I want to go out!

In March, 2020, like half of the globe, my family and I were in lockdown in Spain, one of the worst hit countries by the Covid-19 crisis.

In Madrid, children weren’t allowed outside of their homes for a month and a half and, as parents, my wife (Cova Díaz) and I struggled to explain our 3-year-old why he couldn’t go out and play.

So we came up with a little story. She wrote the words and I drew the pictures, and we used it to tell him how there was a “little bug” in the streets which we could only defeat with our unique superpower –that of staying home– and the help of a “super-team” of doctors and first responders.

Since it seemed to help, we posted it on social media for other parents to download for free.

And the response was absolutely overwhelming.

In a matter of days, we were flooded with messages from thankful parents and teachers from all over the world, we were being interviewed by newspapers and TV shows from Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia… Several people volunteered to translate the story into six different languages, which we adapted for them to share, and a few others recorded spoken-word versions and uploaded them to YouTube for children to watch at home.

What started as a project for our eldest son turned into an international phenomenon, making us realise how parents share the same worries and fears no matter where they live.