I am 13

Hi, my name is Natalie and I live in Victoria. I am 13 years old. I am a young carer for my younger sister and Mum.

Some of the things I do as a young carer are are packing lunches, making food, getting my little sister dressed. Then I go to school. Me and my older sister quite often have to walk to the bus stop as neither of my parents can drop us off. After school we help doing household chores, doing the dishes, laundry, cooking, riding to the shops of necessities. In the evening, I help my younger sister out by helping her with puzzles, playing games like hide and seek, playing her songs.

Changes that have happened in my life since COVID-19 have been not being able to see my family as often . During this time I have enjoyed having a bit of time off of my busy schedule, but have missed actually being at school and seeing my friends and family as well as travelling. For me to study from home, I didn’t have to buy anything to study from home. Studying from home has been challenging because it isn’t fun and it’s hard to work without the help of my teachers. All of my learning was taking place my room.

One of the first things I have done since the restrictions have eased is spent time out and about in the city. If something similar like this happened again, I would advise other young to just stay strong because we’ll get through this. .

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