Toddlers and the latest corona announcement

[Purpleflashingunicorn]

Apologies if this has already been discussed, I couldn’t find any threads about it.

Am I right in thinking that nothing has changed in regards to the announcement if you have toddlers as they obviously don’t understand social distancing? there’s a few people on facebook who I know through nursery who seem so excited but have toddlers like I do and I’m just sitting here wondering, how can you keep a toddler at a distance from people for more than 3 minutes? Especially when it’s family that they’ve missed so much! Am I missing something?
I was hoping so much that the announcement was going to include some sort of good news for us but came away so disappointed as I have an extremely energetic toddler who I don’t feel I could social distance from family, putting them and us at risk.

Willing to be told that I’ve missed something and I’m entirely wrong!

You have to make decisions as adults as to whether you want the risk.

So toddlers can mingle in a nursery but can't mingle with their own family members? Bit weird.

Yep will definitely be continuing to see people at a distance without the toddler, just really upsetting, keeping my toddler in a buggy or a playpen would actually be sheer hell, she would absolutely go insane. She is desperate to see everyone and as someone said above it would be cruel how much it would upset her.

I was hoping I’d missed something but obviously not, oh well we’ll just continue as we were.

We are going to see my mil this weekend. Kids will stay in the car and we have asked mil to observe a 2m distance ( she hasn't seen them since the beginning of lockdown) so not sure how likely she will be to follow through. If I let the kids out it will be a free for all there is absolutely no way ds and dd won't jump on mil for cuddles, they have missed their grandma. I would rather they wait a little bit longer till the 2m distance thing is no longer in place as I know there will be lots of tears and tantrums about not being able to play with their grandma but dh thinks that is cruel to his mum. I'd anyone has managed to get their toddler to keep a 2m distance from close family then please share tips on how you managed to convince them to do so. Mine are nearly 3 and 4 years old and whilst have been told numerous times they do not understand.

@UnderTheBus grandma is poorly isn't true and a fairly worrying thing to say in a pandemic. It also doesn't explain why he can't go and fling himself at her legs liked he usually would. Until he can have actual contact there's no point. I'm a grown up and am fine talking on the phone or by zoom, he misses them, playing with them, cuddling them, sitting on their laps while they read him a story or sing songs together I also think it would be more upsetting for my parents especially my mum to see him but have to keep their distance and watch while he gets upset. He picks daisies in the garden every day, he hasn't seen his grandparents since March 13th I don't think there would be an easy distraction.

You need to risk assess it.

My mum came over this morning for another garden wall visit where she sits on my wall and I sit on the doorstep, a good 7-8 metres apart.

This morning, 3yo DD spotted Gran and launched herself out of the door with a shriek of "GRANANANA!" and all but dived onto my mum's lap. Happy 3yo and my mum so happy she burst into tears.

I decided the risk is small enough to be allowable, we've all been self-isolating since a week before lockdown began and I'm fairly certain my mum had it already (all the associated symptoms of fever/cough/loss of taste and smell, etc but not tested).

There's no way most grandparents aren't going to hug their grandchildren who they've not seen for several months

@Tomorrowillbeachicken

You're confusing regulations. Nowhere does it say they need to be 3.5m apart, it says they need 3.5m squared of floor space per child.

To be honest I'm being led by the older people. If they are happy to be hugged I'm letting my kids get on with it.

I'm arranging to meet a friend with a young toddler. The plan is to put the playpen in the garden. As the toddler hates it, I will be in it. There are other options...

I did say "has a poorly back" not "is poorly". Not worrying in a pandemic and does preclude flinging yourself at her. If you're not comfortable telling white lies to your child that's fair enough.

@KKSlider

DH and I are both keyworkers and in the top 20 in terms of likely exposure on the BBC thing, and whatever we have DS has, I'm not taking that risk with my parents or DHs , but I understand if you've been furloughed for the last few weeks and have barely been anywhere your risk will be much lower

@MinesAPintOfTea that's brilliant!

I took mine to see my parents. Didn't bother with social distancing although we did stay in the garden. We've all been locked down for weeks and we don't have coronavirus.

I know it's hard. I have a 4 year old and 15 month old. 4 year old is ok ish but it still means he can't really see other kids as one or both parties will forget in 2 minutes! And 15 month old obviously has no concept. We are visiting my parents next weekend for the first time since a week before Mother's Day, and luckily they have a big garden accessible from the front, with a gate separating different areas. So that's how we'll see them.

To be honest I think you need to look at the infection rates and death rates and make sensible decisions as our government are playing silly buggers with our safety.
We should NOT be easing lockdown.
We should NOT be socialising in other people's homes and gardens.
And we should NOT be letting our children play together. Heartbreaking as it is. Our casualty rates from Covid continue to be an unmitigated disaster.

@jb1305uk

I took my 3 year old to my parents garden for a visit today. My dad had put a fence across half of it to maintain social distancing. A little difficult for my child to understand at first but they did settle and it worked well. Still not great but at least we could see each other

This is really sweet of your dad, sounds effective too.

Oh ok. I looked at guidance for a mother and toddler group

Babamamananarama

So in your learned opinion, how much longer should the entire country be ground to a halt for?

Babamamananarama I live in London, our rates were higher the week before we locked down than they are now. Corona isn’t going anywhere, we have to learn to sensibly live With it.

@Tomorrowillbeachicken

It's still 3.5 metres squared per child, not a distance of 3.5metres for a toddler group.

@Tomorrowillbeachicken

Oh ok. I looked at guidance for a mother and toddler group

Mother and toddler groups aren't covered by the requirements of the EYFS as they aren't regulated by Ofsted.

They'll come under the same lock down rules as any other large gathering so banned for now.

[quote Hercwasonaroll]@Tomorrowillbeachicken

It's still 3.5 metres squared per child, not a distance of 3.5metres for a toddler group.[/quote]
There's no floor space rules for toddler groups as they aren't regulated.

So toddlers can mingle in a nursery but can't mingle with their own family members? Bit weird.

Toddler picks it up, toddler mingles with other toddlers, toddler brings it home, parents infected but are following all guidelines so affect is minimal.

Toddler then goes to visit auntie Jenny, hugs her. Auntie Jenny now has it. Auntie Jenny works in the supermarket, passes it to her colleagues. Toddler also hugs granny who is 75. And uncle James who is a bus driver.

It really isn’t a difficult concept.

@MinesAPintOfTea that made me smile!

I've told my mil she's not to go out anywhere just click and collect and corner shop to top up her gas. She's abiding by these rules so she can come and see toddler