MsE and I had an appointment to talk about how hard MsE finds it to leave the house some days.
It's not everyday, it comes and goes, but it has certainly been influenced by a COVID world.
MsE was chased by an aggressive monkey in mid January 2020, and they can be very aggressive. Then March 29, we told the kids COVID had officially made the world too unsafe to go near other people. We sheltered-in-place for 12 weeks (10 weeks of which was Singapore's version of Lock-Down (the Circuit Breaker). The kids hardly left the house until June 20 when we told the kids, it's okay, Singapore says we can go outside now, as long as you wear a mask and stay at least 3 feet away from people.
Having the busy streets of Singapore deserted for so long caused the wildlife to venture into places it doesn't normally, and so there have also been many monkey sighting around our condo. She is very certain she saw a monkey in one of the trees beside our condo's playground shortly after the playgrounds opened. Based on the level of detail she can provide, it's pretty likely she did.
MsE is not too sure about this new mask wearing, socially distanced world, occasionally inhabited by wildlife in unexpected places.
I was relieved that both MsE and I had fun at her session. I found it an interesting experience. MsE said she really liked doing the drawings and telling stories.
MsE was very specific about her fear, which is good. She is specifically afraid of the Macaque Monkeys found in Singapore. This the same type as the rather large male monkey who chased her back January. She says she is not afraid of other smaller types of monkeys which she says are cute. She's worried about that ones that seemed as big as her.
We were both given our homework after one visit, sent on our way, and told we likely won't have a reason to return.
We need to very specifically locate on a Singapore map where Macaques live; take a visit to a similar species of monkeys at the Singapore zoo, and take a picture of MsE with the large photos of the monkeys there. I was also helped with how to break down leaving the house into very small steps for MsE, and when to call it a day and go back home.
The monkey from our incident was also given a name, the "Bad Monkey." This has helped MsE to think of it as one monkey and not all monkeys. In trying figure out where this type of monkey lives in Singapore, I showed MsE some googled photos and she agreed it was a Macaque who was the Bad Monkey, but that made me realize we actually have "real" photos of the literal monkey who chased her, including other photos from our walk that day. So, we made a book with photos chosen by MsE and in her own words.
Here's a copy of MsE's book. We printed it on our home printer and put it into our book rotation.
Long Tailed Macaque, November 2020
I went out to go see the monkeys. A monkey climbed down from the tree. It went after me, because I was holding an Oreo. I was scared.
What? That’s The Bad Monkey?
I thought he would be scarier. I thought he would look like super, super, incredibly scary. I thought he would look like that, but bigger, scarier.
He looks nice, and he doesn’t look scary.
MsC got her picture with the monkey.
Monkeys live in the forest, in the trees. And they love to eat fruit.
Monkeys don’t go in your house. Monkeys don’t go to the mall. Monkeys don’t want to be near people.
I was scared of the monkey, but they are also cute. Those 3 were cute. I saw them on the path near the jungle.
If you see a monkey, What do you do?
- Stop and be quiet!
- Do not look at the monkey’s face.
- Back away from the monkey slowly facing the monkey. Do not turn and run away.
- If you are holding something the monkey wants, hide it or throw it away.
- Do not try to hit the monkey.
- Tell others and keep away from the area until the monkey has left.
(PS. Mommy wrote the last page of the book)