Family Builds ‘Lockdown Lodge’ Playhouse Son with Autism
The Lockdown Lodge, Photo Credit: Hannah Emberson
George Emberson is a nine-year-old boy with autism. One day he had an incredible idea and asked his parents, Hannah, and Darryl, if they could build a treehouse.
Unfortunately, the family didn’t have enough wood or a tree big enough to build the treehouse. To make Emberson’s dream come true, his mom asked on a village Facebook group for spare wood. The family was speechless and amazed with what they received. Because of their community’s support and donations, they were able to make an amazing pastel house for a total of £250.
The family of six worked together to build the ‘Lockdown Lodge’. The idea of building the treehouse started while making a fruit and veg planter as a family project, and that’s when Emberson asked his parents if they could build him a tree house.
The family has been living in the village of Winterslow in Wiltshire for a year now, but thanks to their supportive and amazing community, it already feels like home for them.
They weren’t expecting to build anything fancy, but then they got unexpected resources and they decided to start building and plan as they went along to make most of what they had.
“When we first began the project, I hoped it would give our children a safe space to enjoy outdoors and make the most of an unused, overgrown part of the garden,’ she added. We hadn’t planned for it to be anything fancy, but the generosity of others and access to wonderful paint made it what it is. With my husband furloughed and myself staying home due to my asthma, it gave us the opportunity to enjoy time together during lockdown. We are both quite handy with DIY projects, so we were equally able to work together throughout. It also provided a welcome downtime from trying to homeschool four children,” said Emberson’s mom to Metro.
They ended up spending a total of £250. The family felt that building the treehouse was a good distraction from the stressful situation everyone’s living because of the pandemic, and it also helped them feel closer as a family and to their community.
“We named the playhouse ‘Lockdown Lodge’ as it seemed fitting to have it as a memory of this time and shows that despite the challenges faced, there have been some positives to come out of this pandemic. When we look at what has been achieved, we have a huge sense of accomplishment and gratitude. The children love spending time in the Lockdown Lodge, reading, drawing and writing stories together, “ said Emberson’s mom to Metro.