The current situation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted and upended the normal family and business life from a global perspective. It is no longer business as usual following the many unusual things which people must do in order to combat the pandemic. Among these things is remote working, social and physical distancing, suspended learning – which is quite a lot for every other person. Among the most affected people could be parents and caregivers as well as children. In my writing, I, therefore, see a need to use writing to bring the general public and people across all divides to congruence with the whole idea of adhering to directives which have been issued by the government, providing parents and caregivers with information regarding parenting in this new normal, help children cope with the resulting changes as well as writing to help people cope and manage stress and depression amounting from the pressure of the difficult times.
My specific purpose for writing in this situation is to achieve several objectives. First I want to inform myself and learn more through clear writing which is a sign of clear thinking through communicating clearly about the covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, in my writing, I want to keep people informed about the reality of the situation and how to cope with the new directives which should be our new norm. Thirdly I desire to help people with how to manage episodes of depressed moods which they may find themselves in due to change in the normal way of life. Finally, I want to inform better parenting tips to help parents and caregivers so as to manage the situation and salvage the future generation.
The audience which I am trying to reach is first all people across all divides irrespective of color, ethnicity, and religious affiliations or otherwise. This is because the subject matter of covid-19 pandemic is affecting all people and people of all ages can be infected and therefore the need for all people to comply with preventive measures and if infected to take careful measures not to infect others. The needs of my audience include show to cope with the norm of covid-19, managing stress and depressive moods during the difficult times and also better ways of parenting. Most people are yet not attuned to the new life and therefore they have negative attitudes towards acclimatizing and adopting the new ways of living. Others have a feeling of being forced to do what is against their moral values especially in terms of religious affiliations. In my own view, the audience is aware of the reality of the covid-19 pandemic but it doesn’t know how to cope with the new challenging life – depression, stress, and change in parenting norms. In addition, children are not aware of how well to adapt to the new way of life where they are no longer able to play as normal. The background information which I will need to provide regarding the situation will include the reality of the pandemic which actually calls for a changed way of living, the need to adhere to preventive directives and also how all people are vulnerable to the pandemic.
In this writing, I will adopt a persuasive writing genre where I will be able to express my emotions and feelings towards the situation. In this, I will get an opportunity to sympathize with readers who are affected and express the issue in a manner that brings out the clarity of understanding of the topic to the readers. This is the best genre because by persuasion writing I will give information that persuades people to commit themselves to the new norm and the new directives. The genre affords me to convince the readers on why they should accept the situation and be able to cope with stress management. The genre of persuasive writing limits my writing especially from the perspective of those who have specific knowledge and would not be willing to change their mindset and see the issue from my perspective. Examples of persuasive writing include the use of descriptive adjectives, alliteration to create emphasis, appeals to inform the readers’ sense of patriotism and being fair, anecdotes to illustrate points and clichés. I notice that the features of persuasive writing inform about positioning readers to accept a particular point of view such as the issues arising with covid-19.