Evidence of the pandemic?

[LaceWingMother]

Just idly wondering whether it's clear from any aspect of my life that the covid era ever happened.

Fortunately, no one I knew died or became seriously unwell from it, DH and I don't work from home because of it, DC now going through secondary school as normal, I didn't make any large purchases linked to it (one friend built a home office and a feckless neighbour bought a now-neglected dog). Apart from a few face masks stuffed in a drawer and forgotten about, I don't think there's any evidence of it in the house.

Does the impact of the pandemic appear in your life now?

Gosh oP you are lucky.
I had family members die and think the wfh environment has very negative consequences still.
Most of all I have a young adult son who sailed through Covid but was floored by a later vaccine, four hospital stays throughout 2021, had to leave uni due to to poor health (never having met his tutor didn't help - they were truly awful). Again back in hospital for four nights in November 2024 and still heavily medicated. Restarted at uni and doing okay with that so far. But it has hugely impacted the course of his life in ways I couldn't possibly do justice to in a short post.

I’m sorry you had such an awful time @SlapTheMelon . I don’t think the OP is saying it never happened. It’s more like “have we gone back to normal yet? - is there still evidence of it in your life? - can we believe it actually happened - how is it impacting you still?”
Looking for different stories and whether you are your loved ones are still living with its impact.

This

every teacher i know has seen changes in at least some of the children

I'm a secondary school teacher. Perhaps the children, parents and staff are more tech-savvy, but that's not a bad thing.

Is that the only impact you've noted, as a Secondary teacher? Really?
No emotional or social impact at all?

So am I. I'm astonished by this. The current year 9 have been catastrophically affected. There's very clear national data. Years 7 to 8 are closer to typical expectations because they seem to have benefited from well-targeted catch-up funding in KS2.

My son is year 5. The majority of the year are behind socially and least developed in maturity as well as many still behind on curriculum.

It's a national issue. Missing the foundations of learning in Reception and Year 1 has left a deep mark on the cohort.

It's very, very rarely mentioned, but if it is it's always with a "Lockdown was fun; I miss lockdown" sort of phrase.

We had very good feedback from parents about our online learning and organised lots of online social activities.

We're lucky because our school is in a lovely area and lots of the children were meeting for walks and socially-discussed get-togethers, when permitted.

They're also aged 11-18, so were online, chatting and exchanging videos etc.

As I say, we had it relatively easy.

I also teach in a selective school, with engaged parents and lots of resources available at home. So, lockdown was relatively straight-forward. Very fortunate.

relatively easy.
Well, you were lucky, but it's obviously the kind of school you teach in. Not all had such a pleasant time, as you can no doubt imagine.

You must be aware OP that finding lockdown “fun” was an incredibly privileged position to be in?

my kids were 11 and 14 and it was awful for them.

My DD was in Year 7 during the first lockdown and enjoyed (and hugely benefitted from) lots of additional time in her day (no commute to school etc) to read for pleasure. This has had a very positive impact on her education and wellbeing in general.

Obviously, again, this is fortunate.

No, I don't think the pandemic has much of an effect on my life today except the box of masks on the table in the hall. I won't ever know how the lack of socialising from 4-8 months affected my daughter who is now 5. One of my friends has long covid and suffers really badly with it (previously at peak health and fitness).

As a (now retired) teacher I totally agree. Game changer. No faffing about, parents who work odd hours can dial in from their work if they schedule in a break, no parent can monopolise more time - if they really have an issue a dedicated meeting with everyone involved can be arranged. It was great.

Yes, that's going to be significantly different from a non selective state school with children who are pp, EAL, AEN and have complex social and emotional issues, and they are many. Such schools have faced huge challenges, without the budget to support all the additional needs.

I think op is aware of this and whenever anyone who has one particular perspective seeks to hear others it is a good thing I think.

I agree that we're surrounded by its aftermath and it seemed a pretty bold post to me too, I must say. I still feel a bit nervous when I click on BBC news and see a mention of some kind of outbreak somewhere.

There's the state of the economy for a start which affects nearly all of us (if it hasn't affected you, I'd say you're very fortunate and privileged); the effects on young people (I work in ed); high streets that are full of vape shops as so many independent small businesses couldn't get through it... The once bustling bar where my husband and I had our first date has been boarded up and become various bars and cafes since. I also think we are all far more hooked on our phones and devices than we were before the pandemic. We won't see the full effects of the pandemic until another twenty odd years or so I think when the kids are grown up.

I list this small amount of effects I see as someone who fortunately didn't lose anyone close to me. So many did, needless to say, and many did so after being isolated from them so were robbed of the time with them before they died. That's a different kind of grief to deal with I think.

While I quite enjoyed the slowness of life during lockdown (although me and DH still had to go into work), I didn’t realise at the time the impact it had on my DS.

He was in Y7 and was diagnosed as autistic later that year. He never really went back to school. Missed his whole secondary education and is still struggling now to go to college, who have just said he can’t retake his GCSEs this year.

Whether this would have happened anyway, I can never say of course, but it was during lockdown that he said he was never going back to school.

As a teacher and parent, I hate online parents’ evenings!

yes, I blame Chris Shitty too for going along with the hysterical narrative

That's highly relevant context.

I doubt you take many disadvantaged students but I guarantee there are disadvantaged pupils who might in previous years have passed the entrance exam and taken up a place but who have not since 2021 because of the disproportionate impact on Covid on their learning in KS2. Those children would likely be in Year 9 now but as you'll never meet them you will never realise this.

I'm sorry to tell you that things look very different outside of your bubble.

I'm sorry about your son, and the immediate effect on new businesses was awful - but the rest of that is about bad management in business and underfunding of public services, not the pandemic.

Why so?

well that would be on you if she has any effects from not socialising.
Everyone I knew understood the importance of socialisation ( especially for young children) and we all met up anyway.

Caught covid in march 2020 at the start of lockdown. As did my friend. My friend died from it leaving behind a toddler. They were not able to have the funeral they should have.
I went on to develop long covid. Even now I cannot work full time, drink alcohol and I have to measure out everything I do carefully because if I overdo it I am ill for days.
I lost most of my friends, a career and part of my health.
My DH nearly lost his business and we nearly lost everything from that.
My DD has been severely mentally scarred by lockdown and hasn’t fully bounced back.
The pandemic is a very dark history for our family. And we can’t think about it without shuddering.