As we all prepare ourselves for emerging into the new normal there is part of me that is getting quite adjusted to the intermediate normal.

I suppose it is an example of institutionalisation, whatever we are used to we are reluctant to let go. I think of children we take into care living in appalling circumstances and yet not wanting to leave home because however bad it is, it is familiar, it takes a while for them to let go of the old normal and adjust to whatever normal has become.

I have always wondered what it is like for our children and young people to be uprooted from their family and placed in a new family and been amazed at how quickly they adjust, despite their initial fear of change.

I guess having the definition of normal change around us is a small taste of what they go through, a loss of the familiar, and a new lifestyle.

It is the longest period that I have not physically seen my family as well and I begin to get a small taste of what it must be like for our looked after children.

I have always been curious about how resilient they are, and how quickly they adjust, and now I find myself in a slightly similar position, I have become familiar with lockdown and am shocked at how I have become used to it, and just like the children fear change, I have some fear of change to a new normal.

Logically I know that it should be an easier adjustment to go from lockdown to the new normal than the adjustment we have all already made from normal to lockdown.

Psychologically if I have made one transition it should be straightforward to adjust. But like the children living in deprivation even when someone offers me more, part of me is still a little fearful of change and wants to cling on to what is now familiar.

Whatever your family situation I hope that you are able to enjoy the easing of the lockdown, and that you and your families stay safe and well."