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Original poster

Are your teenagers still meeting up with their friends?

161 replies

Rollergirl11 · 10/01/2021 16:10

I know that you can meet one person from another household for exercise but it is apparent that a lot of DD’s friends are just taking that as an opportunity to meet up with each other. Then meet up with someone else new the next day. I see that as completely bending the rules and is just unnecessary mixing of multiple households. Luckily DD doesn’t agree with it and hasn’t asked to do the same. Obviously lots of parents are allowing this (DD’s friends parents that I know included) so please can someone who thinks this is okay explain their reasoning?

OP posts:
Icanseegreenshoots · 10/01/2021 16:58

Also the hideous campaign that is now being fed through social media telling them they will kill people if they leave home has frightened them half to death. I don't know why they are employing such heavy handed techniques, when most teens are doing precisely what they should be doing.

I am very angry about it, if you had a child on the edge the latest campaign certainly won't help them.

GreenWheat · 10/01/2021 17:00

Mine has been meeting one friend at a time to walk the dog. Different friends on different days. This is within the rules. You can meet one person outdoors for exercise. There is no stipulation about it being the same person each time.

Undies1990 · 10/01/2021 17:01

No. Meeting online only and I'm v relieved!

MrsPinkCock · 10/01/2021 17:02

No, they’re all at home and talking to their friends online only.

justanotherneighinparadise · 10/01/2021 17:02

What are the rules? I thought two people could meet outside in a public place? Is that not right?

Panicmode1 · 10/01/2021 17:02

No, online only, despite their protestations.

We are in Kent and the number of households out mixing and socialising is bonkers - it was busier on the Common where I live today than it is during a summers day. (We were taking our exercise by walking the dog in our household group).

People don't seem to be taking this as seriously as they did in the first lockdown, which is why we are probably going to be locked down until Easter......

elliejjtiny · 10/01/2021 17:04

No, just chatting online, aged 14 and 12

MrsPinkCock · 10/01/2021 17:06

@justanotherneighinparadise

What are the rules? I thought two people could meet outside in a public place? Is that not right?
No, two people can meet up for exercise only - the guidance specifically says for this purpose and not for socialising!
Silkiechickscat · 10/01/2021 17:08

No both mine just chat online and both want to stick to the rules.

I think DD has one friend who says he's bored and wants to meet up but he's not in our village so strictly its not allowed. I do think outdoors 2 metres apart isn't really a risk the trouble is teenagers don't stick to that. She has a friend by old house not sticking to rules at all, sleepovers etc and its rife there - 1 in 18 secondary kids.

SE13Mummy · 10/01/2021 17:08

My 16-yr-old is meeting the same friend for a brisk walk/run 2/3 times a week. They're allowed to do this and as the friend is a single child, it's the only way she gets to spend any time with someone other than her parents.

justanotherneighinparadise · 10/01/2021 17:09

No, two people can meet up for exercise only - the guidance specifically says for this purpose and not for socialising!

So two people can walk up and go for a walk? That’s what I thought. Why is everyone on here then acting aghast that two teenagers are going out fir a walk?

justanotherneighinparadise · 10/01/2021 17:09

*meet

SnapeSnapeSeverusSnape · 10/01/2021 17:10

Dd 15 and Ds 13, not meeting, only chatting online.

Mummyoflittledragon · 10/01/2021 17:10

Dd12 went on a 1.5 hour walk with her friend today. First time she’s seen someone apart from dh and me in a week. We met up with a friend and her ds last weekend before the tightening of rules. Lots of house party / FaceTime / fortnite.

UntamedWisteria · 10/01/2021 17:11

So far, No.

DS is normally very sociable, but hasn't even met up with his gf yet to go for a walk - tricky as she lives a 40-minute drive away.

He is thinking about arranging to meet a friend who lives 2 miles away in the next village for a walk, but hasn't done so yet. I would be fine with this. Good for them both.

Twinkie01 · 10/01/2021 17:11

Socially isolated 🙄, sorry but we would have been socially isolated in the 70s/80s but now with Snapchat and all the other ways kids can keep in touch, there's no excuse for them to be breaking the rules.

FancySomeChips · 10/01/2021 17:12

No
And they wouldn’t ask to, we are taking the situation seriously even if the gov isn’t.

Original poster
Rollergirl11 · 10/01/2021 17:13

@GreenWheat

Mine has been meeting one friend at a time to walk the dog. Different friends on different days. This is within the rules. You can meet one person outdoors for exercise. There is no stipulation about it being the same person each time.
But if everyone carries on having this amount of interaction with other households what is the point in being in lockdown?
OP posts:
yearinyearout · 10/01/2021 17:14

It's fine for them to meet outside as long as they are being sensible (and they don't need to meet the same person each time), that isn't bending any rules.

Cherry889 · 10/01/2021 17:15

No

sleepyhead · 10/01/2021 17:15

No. They've completely moved their social life online. Ds1 plays and chats with his friends all bloody day via one platform or the other. There's a core group if about 4 of them who spend most time together at school with another 6 or so dropping in and out.

Normally I would be nagging him to make plans to do something in person, but at the moment it's worked out pretty well.

SnowfallSnowball · 10/01/2021 17:15

My daughter is 14, she hasn’t met up with anyone. She’s kept in contact with her friends online. Even if teens do meet up, I can’t imagine there being much social distance happening 🤷🏾‍♀️

CharBart · 10/01/2021 17:17

Mine has been out for a walk with a friend and will probably do the same with a different friend as well. As they are perfectly entitled to do. If you need to get het up about rule bending, how about the employers making staff come in to workplaces when they could be working from home, causing multiple prolonged mixing of large numbers of households?

Original poster
Rollergirl11 · 10/01/2021 17:17

@justanotherneighinparadise

No, two people can meet up for exercise only - the guidance specifically says for this purpose and not for socialising!

So two people can walk up and go for a walk? That’s what I thought. Why is everyone on here then acting aghast that two teenagers are going out fir a walk?

I don’t really have an issue with 2 people meeting up to go for a walk. But if that person then meets up with someone else the following day and yet another the day after then that is a level of household mixing that I find concerning. Especially given that they are now saying 1 in 3 people have the virus and are asymptomatic.
OP posts:
Freewheelingoryx · 10/01/2021 17:17

No. Not currently. They were sticking to the rules and going on occasional SD bike rides or walks before with one friend but not any more.