Children thinking lockdown lasted years 😢

[Mayflower282]

Was talking with my kids about Covid (they were in primary school when it started, now in high school), they asked how long lockdown lasted and I couldn’t actually remember, but I said around 6 months…they were shocked and said they thought it was 2-3 years. I guess their perception of time at that age it felt longer. Felt so sad hearing this 😢

Anyone else had similar from their kids?

Ok. I was in Ireland at the time of lockdown. It definitely lasted two years.

I thought it was the same length of time in England as i remembered seeing news stories about bubbles/travel restrictions/schools being closed in England- for the same length of time as it happened in Ireland

It wasn't constant in most places so lockdown from March 2020 and then all go crazy in July/August with holiday towns crowded (I live in one and it really was crazy) plus eat out to spread the virus. Then when eat out did it's job another lockdown.

Then there were times when there were restrictions but not necessarily a lockdown.

I think it would be good for kids mental health if they weren't constantly being told how terrible it was.

Life wasn’t completely normal for years. So they are remembering accurately really.

@TheignT I always bigged up the lockdowns and subsequent restrictions saying now lovely it was we got to spend so much time as a family. And we did have a lovely time. But my DD came to me in tears after watching a news report on the Hantavirus the other day, she was afraid it would mean lockdown again. It was a huge event in their short childhoods so of course it had an impact.

In greater Manchester we had 2 weeks where we weren’t locked down in 2020. My dc was out of school for nearly a year. It was complete and total bollocks from start to finish, it cost a fortune and I’ve never seen any evidence it actually saved loads of lives.

Unfortunately it did in Ireland.

That was a long cold lockdown in ireland. It was a crazy time. Do you rememeber we couldnt even stand with friends in parks, celebrate birthdays, weddings etc.

I think she was flag waving.
100% trying to be different to England. Oh look we care, big bad Boris doesn't.

There was no consideration for the economy peoples MH or children and young people.

It was all about being different with zero science behind it.

...

I’m just glad my daughter was primary age at the time and coped well with it, she’s 14 now and her mental health would hit the floor if we had a lockdown!

It didn't. March-June/July 2020 and Jan-April 2021.

Im sure it affected more than one school year at the time. I remember seeing the news about it

I think thats a huge issue, some people had a what was essentially a lovely holiday completely chilled out.

Other people were stressed out their boxes, depending on lots of things (money, work, kids, school)

Thanks for explaining about the doors @Ophir

I suspect there was so much going on during that time, I completely missed that gem.
It's hilarious.

that's not a 'hindsight' thought - I'm very sympathetic to the fact that the whole thing was so surreal, decisions had to be made without being trialled first, but, surely you could get a flow of air through a door by leaving it open for a while ?

I think of it as lasting years as well. Even as late as September 2022 I remember testing positive and the guidance was that you had to isolate. So it felt like 2-3 years before things actually did go back to normal.

In Wales it went on for years - schools years sent home a drop of a hat- short fire breaks - trips not happening. First lot of GCSE in Y10 canceled (wales they sit some exams in Y10 ) then year 11 GCSE also cancelled. DD1 was Y10 when it struck her Y11 prom was cancelled.

DD2 was in Y6 at start but it was end of Y8 before school trips started happening and before corridor restrictions were lifted - and windows didn't have to be open all winter.

They aged out of some groups activties in area before they restarted and some never started back up. Was 18 months of not seeing DGP they'd seen nearly every month since birth.

It is frimly in rear veiw mirror for our kids but it went on way long than 6 months.

Its the obvious answer, its a door, open it!

Don't cut it ffs, would she do that in her house, I'll just cut a big hole in that fire door at the bottom of the stairs!

This is it in a nutshell. She and Drakeford in Wales were playing the "we're not Boris" game. So came up with crazy ideas like sawing the bottoms off doors or roping off anything Drakeford considered non-essential in Tesco.

We were locked down longer, schools closed longer, banned from travel longer and the enquiry showed that there was no real difference between outcomes in Scotland and outcomes in England.

Yes restrictions lifted think 19/20 July. Around my birthday and we could have more at our wedding end of July

It wasn't just a straightforward 6 months though. It was on and off for ages. I can't remember when the disruption stopped exactly but my son definitely didn't have a full year 7 or year 8, which was a terrible start to his high school experience. My stepdaughter's disruption to her schooling clashed with vital GCSE years and had a huge impact on the mental health, wellbeing and future life choices of her and her friends. My youngest remembers it all with rose tinted glasses as we were still main characters in his life and his primary did an excellent job with home learning and support and making things fun and collaborative and not tech heavy. I work in arts, culture, and entertainment and Covid had a huuuuuuge impact on my employment for years. It was defo more than 6 months of change. Here in Wales we had different restrictions too. Friends living in England would talk of going for a walk with friends. Not allowed for us at that time. It was a massively shit time for lots of reasons. Friends who had the worst of it include one whose abusive relationship was harder to spot because of lockdowns, the isolation and control made it worse, those who gave birth with all the added rules of who's allowed in with them when, those going through cancer treatments on their own because their partner, parent or anyone else wasn't allowed in with them to give support and friends and family weren't allowed to give practical support with e.g. childcare and cleaning the house, those experiencing a bereavement and end of life care for non-covid related reasons but who still couldn't have a friend or family member with them to give support or practical help and hospital staff not even allowed to give them a hug. My mum working in a care home talking with colleagues about which one of them (the staff) would die first because they had inadequate PPE and residents were being sent back to them from hospital. And so on and so on. And all of the things I've mentioned there which impacted on adults ALSO impacted on the children in those households, the babies, the toddlers, the kids, the teens.

I read on here people headed off on holiday first summer - we had a UK one booked but couldn't go as a month out last cancel date they were restricting train travel still - there were police at the station here questioning people on journeys.

If we'd been driving we could have gone no issue.

DH worked across the border in England and at one point they insisted staff had to head in when wales it was still stay at home - again those on public transport couldn't comply and had to argue with management.

The impact on people was very uneven -- sometimes for understandable reasons other times becuase policy just hit that way.

DD1 didn't sit either years GCSE Y10 or Y11 - so two exam periods affected - she wasn't sitting external exams again till Y12 AS levels - which I don't think helped her.

The first official lockdown started in March 2020. In June 2022 was when my local hospital lightened Covid restrictions. I know because I was there in labour when they lifted them at midnight. Lots of people had whole pregnancies and maternity leaves in lockdown or not normal times.

The convo with the kids started because they are scared of another lockdown after all this Hantavirus stuff in the news 😩 They thought they were locked in the house continually for 2 years constantly!

when in actual fact it was more like this:

1. First lockdown (the strictest)

• Start: 23 March 2020
• Major easing began: 4 July 2020
• Ended in practice (most rules lifted): early July 2020
• ➡️ About 3.5 months

2. Second national lockdown (England only)

• Start: 5 November 2020
• End: 2 December 2020
• ➡️ About 4 weeks

3. Third national lockdown

• Start: 6 January 2021
• Easing began: 8 March 2021 (schools reopened first)
• Most restrictions lifted: 19 July 2021 (“freedom day”)
• ➡️ About 5–6 months of tightening, with gradual easing

I suppose it partly comes down to if you usually go to parties, weddings, see family or have holidays. We never do that (lack of money and SEN) so lockdown wasn't a drama. I just went running and wfh.

My GC are adopted and were in care during lockdown, for much longer than would normally have been the case due to difficulties in face to face meetings and court time.

The eldest one was at school as she was a "cared for" child but appears to have learnt nothing during that time, coming to us at nearly 6 with no skills at all in the three Rs. We put this down to there being very large mixed ability classes with few teaching staff, and the quieter children just being left to play.

Yes lockdown affected so many things. I remember reading about a rape survivor. Her case was delayed for two years because of covid. She lived in the same town as her rapist and she didnt feel comfortable for those two years