To be sad that so many rituals of the year will be list in 2020

[Carbosug]

Not a major issue in the bigger scheme, but there's always something comforting about the small rituals that mark the progress of the year. This summer there'll be no school sports days, prize-givings, Wimbledon on the telly, loads of people departing for beach holidays in August and then that feeling of life reverting to its normal pace in Autumn.

AIBU to miss all these things?

Yes. These small events are roadsigns on our mental map of time - without them, we are disorientated.

I don’t really mind about the big sporting events although I understand they are important to many. I’m glad my kids are in neither Y6, Y11 or Y13 as those transitions are hard anyway.
I’m appreciating the changing seasons and am lucky enough to have woods with bluebells less than a mile from my house.

As many others have said, there are so many events that mark the passage of spring and summer after Easter:

Cricket season starts
Football season finishes
Usually a trip at Whitsun half term
Cub/Scout camp
DSis birthday
Sports Day
School concert
DH’s birthday
Tour de France
And that’s just to the end of July.

I do feel so sorry for the GCSE and A Level students. And final year university. That bonding experience of exams. The nerves. The coming out and talking endlessly about the questions. The joy when you come out of your final exam. The booziness after A Levels and uni exams. They are some of my best memories of being young.

Oh I thought about school shorts for ds and summer school dresses for dd today too. We’ve been organizing all their clothes and came across the little white ankle socks with the blue bow

Ds is wearing his St Ives Cornwall t shirt he got when we went for the first time last year and happily said “I can’t wait to go back to Cornwall again!” We’re booked for August, I haven’t the heart to say it’s probably not going to happen now, it’s not is it?

Eldest DC is due to start school in September and sad that her last year in nursery is probably over so she will never see those friends or her key person who she loved again. Also no transition activities for school.

And just all the lovely things we had planned for Spring/Summer that we will probably have to wait a whole year to do. We went to a fabulous Easter event at a local fruit farm and orchards last year and we were going to go again this year. They also do loads of family fruit festivals from now until September which we were planning to go to. Our local outdoor swimming pool. Lovely nearby country park that does free crafts for children in the visitors centre every weekend in the Spring/Summer. A beautiful gardens with absolutely amazing hydrangeas and tearoom. Sweet little wildlife park with the most eclectic range of animals and most stunning bluebell woods (again only open April-September). Local family arts festival with performers from around the world.

Basically, I'd been waiting all winter for all of these places to open and for us to finally be able to fill our weekends again with two high-energy pre-schoolers without freezing our bums off on the beach or bringing home all the mud We were so close.. sigh

@Springersrock - It's exactly that about winter seeming so long and being finally out the other side but it feels like we're just going to sleep away Spring and Summer and be back where we started.

How could you be unreasonable to miss anything as a result of this shitty situation - I won't miss anything on your list - I'll miss other things though.

This year was meant to be what is possibly my DD's last dance show with her current studio, always a big event with the older ones who are moving away since so many of them move away to dance at college/uni. She was meant to be teaching the younger ballet groups their numbers, and is heartbroken she won't be.

I am miss the summer football tournaments. It's what got me through the freezing cold soggy winter we just had, watching my 7 year old play, dreaming of tournaments in the sun, ice cream, BBQs. Hopefully by the 6 weeks holidays some form of football will be allowed.

We didn’t have any ritual things planned this year - we take holidays at different times, so ours being cancelled isn’t the cancelling of an annual trip (still shit though and so many things are now up in the air). However, I do mark the progress of the year by the events happening around me, even if I’m not involved in them or invested in them. I think that’s normal. I feel like we’re going to go straight from Valentine’s Day to the autumn fairs and back to school rituals. But that could be 6 months or 18 months that has passed. I’m even missing the missing the little rituals of the week, even when we do the same thing week after week. I’m missing the ‘Friday feeling’ at work and that for some reason traffic is worse on Tuesdays. Sometimes, I might work from home or take a Friday off and you miss those rituals on a day but you’re still experiencing the others in a week to help you mark the passage of time. I’m realising how important those little rituals are.

I’m trying to note the changes through nature to not lose the whole year. On our walk yesterday, I pointed out the blossoms on the trees, the daffodils are dying off and the bees and butterflies are emerging. Hopefully, the Weather will play ball and not mess up the seasons so that nature can still mark the passage of time.

I think we use these moments in life to get through the tough bits - having something to look forward to eases the daily grind. We don’t have those things to hold on to at the moment which makes it tough.

I'm sad for the little things.
My son's first school trip
My daughter's first residential trip
Beaver and cub camps
Birthday parties
Our first beach BBQ
Our usual Easter camping
Saturday tea with my parents
Early evening paddle boards
Rib trips
No festivals
Potentially no Cowes Week

They will come again, and the kids aren't that bothered on the surface but still. Humph.

My son was picked for a bouldering competition. He struggles with everything at school and it was his chance to shine

I think I tend to agree more with the people who say they’re glad to have a year off from a lot of these things!

Hopefully, the Weather will play ball and not mess up the seasons so that nature can still mark the passage of time.

On my grumpier days I've been cross at the weather. Isolation does strange things Last weekend was beautiful, Monday was even a hot bank holiday. It's almost cruel that the weather is so nice, and yet we can't spend it with friends and family.

I am missing actually seeing my children. I work part time (26 hours) but currently clocking over 50 as my bosses are greedy b @@@@@@s and this country’s laws to protect workers are woefully inadequate

I’m most upset for DS who is in year 6 so is missing out on his last sports day, residential trip, leavers events, class photo, even setting up the May fair! They’re still getting their leavers hoodies but will never get to wear them to school together. They’ll go off to separate secondary schools with no goodbye. It’s heartbreaking.

We don't know exactly how things will play out, whilst big sporting events etc obviously had to decide, schools are likely to go back so sports days may happen. I wouldn't want to second guess how this summer will be, but I'm not writing it off!

It is truly sad. But it is what it is.

I organise a concert in June each year for my pupils; my summer concert. I am looking to postpone it to September and also my examiner's visit. These events are small fry in the bigger scheme of things (although the concert usually raises a lot of money for charity) but they are much anticipated by my pupils and their families. They are a culmination and celebration of a year's hard work and it won't seem quite the same in September. I know exactly where you're coming from.

I’m loving the extra time with my eldest DS but he’s only 5 and in reception so it feels like he’s only just got into the swing of things and now it’s all been put on hold. I feel so sad for him because it feels like he’s missing out on so much he absolutely loves school. I’m missing popping to see my Dad and SM who have recently moved very close after years of living hundreds of miles away and my MIL who I usually spend a lot of time with. I’m missing the freedom of just being able to pop to town and do a bit of shopping and just taking my boys to the park. And most of all I’m so sad our first family holiday abroad has been cancelled after so much planning and excitement.

I know this one is so stupid but I’m really disappointed that I’m not going to be able to watch the new Mulan until I think November now.

So far none of the events in my community have been called off though. There aren’t any of note due to happen in April or May (or March) but there is lots of stuff going on in June especially, but also July and August that nothing has been said about.

After losing both parents within 6 weeks in January and February just wanted life back to some normality. Couldn’t be further from that. Too much thinking time as nothing else we can do. DS year 11 so missing the whole end of school, exams, prom and heading off to New Zealand to play rugby for 6 weeks so feeling extremely sad for him after all his hard work and planning. DD year 10 just worrying about missing so much work. Missed birthdays and holidays. But then I’m just sad in general at the minute 😢. But thankful we are all staying healthy so far and hoping things will get better

I agree I will miss Wimbledon, plus my son is 40 today, I have a 60th soon we can't see each other to celebrate, I know we will catch up later, I know there are much much worse things happening, but still a bit disappointed as we both had to cancel our party's.