Coronavirus: Spain’s children run free from lockdown – but not all

When Spain’s government announced a national lockdown in mid-March, in reaction to coronavirus, not everyone was dismayed at the prospect of spending several weeks at home.

Miguel Sánchez, a 15-year-old from Madrid, was delighted he wouldn’t have to go to school for the foreseeable future.

Six weeks later, having not left the family’s flat once, the lockdown has lost some of its shine for him and he still does not know when he will be able to go out.

Restrictions have been partially lifted for children under the age of 14 for the first time. That means Miguel’s younger brother, Jaime, can now go out each day. But Miguel cannot.

‘He misses his friends’

“It does bother him because he says ‘Why can my brother go out and I can’t?’,” says their mother, Cristina Carrasco, a primary school teacher.

Miguel has spent much of the time inside doing school work. In his free time, he has been playing video games and watching films with his younger brother.

“Being a teenager, he really misses seeing his friends, going out and having contact with other kids of his age,” she says. “Miguel is a good kid but teenagers have good days and bad days.”

What has changed for Spanish children?

The new lockdown conditions allow Spain’s 6.3 million under-14s to leave their homes each day for a total of one hour between 9 am and 9 pm, but without going further than a kilometre.

Bicycles, skates, and skateboards are allowed, but public parks remain off-limits. The lockdown’s other conditions remain in place for the moment, with the government considering loosening it further in the second half of May.

Psychologists have welcomed the lifting of restrictions for smaller children, saying that even one hour outside each day can provide an important boost to their state of mind.

“The change of routine, being outside and being in the sunlight – all of that is extremely important,” says Laura Piñeiro, a psychologist and the director in Madrid of the charity Asociación Bienestar Desarollo (ABD).

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