Safety of children while not in school

[GinWeasley]

I can't find any official statistics on this, but I feel like there's been an awful lot of horrible news concerning children during lockdown which makes you wonder whether lockdown is already proving way more deadly for them than COVID

While the small number of coronavirus related deaths in the under 18s is horrible and tragic, just from memory, I can think of...

• At least 5 children killed by a parent during lockdown
• A 16 year old girl murdered
• two teens committing suicide because of poor mental health their families have attributed to lockdown
• a five year old drowning on a lake yesterday
• a 14 year old drowning in a river yesterday
• gangs of youths arrested after brawls in a park
• a teenager breaking their back jumping off rocks on Monday

Just some specifics, that I can remember from the top of my head. Not to mention a sea of articles about mental health, loss of education, the devastating effect on children living in poverty or with abuse

The news this week is peppered with kids getting into trouble and dying when they should have been in school.

What is the logic behind the argument they are safer not in school or nursery? Genuine question, obviously it can't be 100% safe but surely for the majority it is preferable?

I'm talking about the general population, not those who are vulnerable or who have shielding family members. Obviously, those groups need to be much more cautious.

[CarrieBlue]

All those tragic incidents would have happened anyway, teenagers take risks and get into fights all the time and almost every summer bank holiday has deaths due to drownings sadly.

[formerbabe]

You must have missed the memo op.

No one gives a flying fuck about the children of this country apparently. Their physical health, mental health and education are apparently irrelevant because there is nothing worse at all ever than dying from covid. It's all that matters.

Hth

[garfieldisacat]

With all the Teacher bashing on here, I wish people would realise that for the majority of us we are not sat at home. Many of the vulnerable kids despite our best efforts have not taken up their School place. Therefore they have not simply been left. As a teacher we have been teaching small groups in School, setting work online, phoning our students daily and for those who have Social workers we have been visiting their homes daily and informing Social Care through our usual child protection routes if we have any concerns. This is all logged. We cannot literally drag them in, plus there is a sense we are making them different by being in. They are closely monitored!

[garfieldisacat]

@formerbabe

You must have missed the memo op.

No one gives a flying fuck about the children of this country apparently. Their physical health, mental health and education are apparently irrelevant because there is nothing worse at all ever than dying from covid. It's all that matters.

Hth

Formerbabe,

You are offensive! If I got Covid I would be seriously ill! If you have children you have responsibilities as a parent!!!

[formerbabe]

If you have children you have responsibilities as a parent!!!

What on earth are you on about?

[Houseyhousey]

@garfieldisacat my teacher friend said they have had worryingly low turn out from vulnerable children. She's been delivering packed lunches to fsm children (and in some sad cases prompting children to clean teeth, dress, comb hair etc and yes reports to ss too)

[TorysSuckRevokeArticle50]

My child is physically and mentally healthy, we are in the fortunate position to be able to provide her a comfortable home, enough food, clothing, educational materials, toys....

We are fortunate enough to be able to work from home, make a living while caring for her and she is happy and engaged at home, with contact online and via video calls with friends.

Sending her back to school while the virus is still prevalent and the format of schooling so rigid, introduces more risk than benefit by my assessment.

[formerbabe]

I'm not just talking about vulnerable children...Even if your children are safe at home, as mine are. Fed, loved, safe, educated as well as can be at home...they are still missing their friends, their extended family, their formal education, their sports, their extra curricular activities etc. Why parents aren't more up in arms over this is a mystery to me.

[formerbabe]

Sorry realise those things I mentioned are more about quality of life than safety as your post is titled.

Point still stands that I feel like society as a whole has totally forgotten about children in all this.

They should be the highest priority and i have no idea why they're not.

[Ponoka7]

garfieldisacat, I'm sure if you got a lot of things you would be seriously ill. We can't sacrifice the rest of society unfortunately.

The government has thrown our young people under the bus. I hope we protest to bring about more fairness in wages and welfare benefits. Personally I think the least that we should do is fund education for an extra two years.

OP, i think all of those would happen anyway. We would have had two school breaks. There's tragic drownings every year and teens doing stupid stuff. Unfortunately there's five children a week killed by caregivers and many more injured and permanently disabled.

[Cremebrule]

I think there are multiple issues and clearly vulnerable children are most at risk. However, children of all walks of life need to see their peers, need to be educated and need to be allowed to have fun and play. On a basic safety angle, i suspect there have been lots of near misses with parents working with small children and reduced care and attention. There will be plenty of children from normal households who won’t be at risk but who won’t have had an ideal experience because they’ve had hours of tv, frustrated parents etc.