Before the COVID-19-related closures, many children celebrated Dr. Seuss’ March birthday at school.

After the first week school closures, spring break started for the Streiff family of West Valley. While cleaning the house one day, father and Elrod Elementary second-grade teacher Ryan Streiff got to thinking. What would be something fun to do?

With so many recent changes in the world of children, including his own, Ryan Streiff’s thoughts landed on adapting a Seuss book to reflect that. He decided to create a video, enlisting the help of his daughter Bristol, a West Valley third-grader, and together they turned Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” on its head to “Oh, the Places You Cannot Go.”

During an April 4 interview, Ryan said the rhyming adaptation helps define the boundaries of, “What we can’t do; what we can still kind of do and what we are able to completely do.”

Bristol took on illustrating and narrating the video. Using markers, she drew how the COVID-19 response has affected children like her — from a list of places people can’t go now, such as a school, a plane, or train, to precautions people can take like staying 6 feet away from each other. The video also shows how familiar places might have changed.

“I can go to the store, but it’s not what it looked like before,” Bristol narrated in the video, over a picture of a well-stocked grocery store beside her drawing of now empty shelves.

The video also shows how regular activities might have changed.

“I can watch a movie, but only with my family,” she narrated over a picture of a movie theater next to her drawing of a family at home on the couch.

The video also shows what activities children can do, such as reading, drawing, bicycling and walking.

“There are a lot of things that I can do! What you choose to do is up to you!”

WHILE RYAN set out to create a fun project to do together with his daughter, it also serves as a quick video, under a minute long, that may help young children understand the complexity of what’s going on in an easy-to-understand way.

“She has friends that live in the neighborhood who come on their bikes to visit still. We have to teach social distancing and what that looks like,” he said.

Ryan said the video took about a week to do. While the pair have sent out a message they think is important, the quality time spent together was as equally important.

“This is an opportunity to spend time with each other, but it’s also a time to keep maintaining our mental health,” he said.

Bristol said it was fun to stay home for awhile, but she misses school, where she can see her friends and teachers, but the family is working through it day-by-day. While Bristol doesn’t see her friends or family like she used to, the Streiffs try to maintain that face-to-face connection through video phone calls.

As a parent with children now learning remotely, Ryan also understands it’s a stressful time.

“A lot of parents are going through a situation where they are still working and trying to be a teacher and a parent at the same time,” he said. “Don’t stress on the work the child has to do. Remember to spend time with family, play games, do family activities.”

To view the video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlpKTnYHQQQ&feature=youtu.be

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.