Having to care for kids—and develop their brains through schoolwork all while explaining the coronavirus and COVID-19—is not a black-and-white affair. One St. Petersburg company, however, can make it a little more accessible for those tasked with taking care of little ones, from newborns to five year olds, during this difficult time.
“I am a worrier at heart, and the last six weeks has given me plenty of time to ponder over things,” Surya Sajnani told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in an email.”Seeing my kids weather this in their own unique ways has given me a sense of comfort in their resilience.”
One of those kids is her son, Sid, who turned 18 this month. Thanks to the coronavirus, his big birthday consisted of a homemade scavenger hunt with his parents.
“He’s a good sport though, and we felt lucky to have him to ourselves,” Sajnani, the founder and owner of St. Petersburg-based Wee Gallery said. “Like most seniors, he’s unsure of what’s coming, but trying his best to keep his spirits cautiously optimistic, and prepare for whatever scenario ends up playing out.”
The new adult is also probably better equipped for change thanks to the visual brain games his parents painted on his childhood wall in the form of black-and-white murals. Surya—an art-loving science major who parlayed her knack for graphic design into a career as a visualizer at an advertising agency—and her husband, Dave Pinto, turned those paintings into six simple study cards featuring black-and-white pictures of animals and repeating patterns. That was in 2002. Today, their company is a survivor of the 2008 recession that employs four full-timers and ships product—the cards, plus books, wall art, custom prints, throw pillows, nesting dolls, stroller covers, backpacks, pottery and more—across the globe. So far, sales have held steady during the pandemic, so Wee is pulling an old rabbit out of its hat to give back to parents cooped up and staring at a long, sequestered summer.
“We actually created our first ‘Download to Donate’ campaign when Hurricane Irma hit. We designed a coloring page to download, and donated $1 to the hurricane relief fund for every page that was downloaded,” Surya said, adding that her customers felt good about being able to do something in the face of tragedy. Wee created a similar campaign for the fires in the Amazon rainforest and did it again, most recently, for the fires that ravaged Australia.
“We reached our goal of 500 downloads in a few hours [during the Australia campaign], so when we were suddenly in the position of having to quarantine, we were already in a good place to continue the downloads,” she added. This time, however, Wee decided to offer the downloads for free. Educational “Freebies” on Wee’s website include “Baby Animals” and “Birds” coloring sets, plus kits to make finger puppets, folk art eggs, pinwheels, fortune cookies, paper huggers, holiday cards, napkin holders and more. All of it is drawn in Wee’s signature, brain-massaging black-and-white (seen on the cover of CL's April 30 issue).
“We found that babies had a connection with the animals past the black and white stage, perhaps because of their familiarity from the early days,” Surya said. Wee even found that its black-and-white art cards were still useful for developing other skills like depth perception and motor skills, once the vision milestones were reached. Offering free material during the lockdown was a no-brainer.
“We knew parents would be having to constantly find resources to entertain their kids while sheltering at home,” Surya explained, adding that she’s enjoyed seeing all the pictures families are sharing with Wee. “We will continue to offer craft projects and free educational materials to parents as long as the quarantine continues.”
The freebies are a simple thing Wee can do during a time filled with uncertainty.
“It’s important that we stay positive and support the constructive efforts of so many around us. With clean hands and clear minds, let’s weather this together,” Surya said, admitting to some worry about a workforce that will have a hard time getting back on its feet if and when this all clears. “I feel like we as citizens along with leaders must really get creative and think of ways to support the most vulnerable members of our community.”
Still, Surya and her family miss hanging out with their friends. To combat the cooped-up feeling, she and Dave go on a long bike ride every day; it’s a habit she hopes to bring into her post-coronavirus days. And while this complicated chapter in our lives is far from a black-and-white situation, it has hammered home the notion that, sometimes, you need to strip life back to survive mentally and physically.
“[The quarantine] has forced us to slow down,” Surya said, “and shown that we can exist happily with so much less.”
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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 6, 2020.