To suggest we storm the parks (armed with hand gel and cleaning wipes)

[TotorosFurryBehind]

Maybe light-hearted, maybe not. In the past week I'm increasing frustrated that children and their well-being are being left behind, as golf courses, garden centres etc open. But no timeline in sight for playparks, zoos etc.

I walk past the park most days on our walk and am increasingly tempted to snip the plastic ties holding the gate shut and take my daughter to play on the swings. I think the only thing stopping me is that is socially taboo and that someone will call the police.

I'm such a law abiding person normally. But I think the anxiety and depression of lockdown is really getting to me. I don't understand the logic of the way things are reopening.

Does anyone else feel like this?

Absolutely. No one has touched the parks in months so there shouldn’t be any contaminated surfaces!

Given that some kids are now back to mingling at nursery and school, I don’t see it being much higher risk to play in the playground.

My house backs on to a park ,nobody seems to give a shit here tbh parents have been letting their kids play on the equipment regardless 🙄

My kid broke into one herself last week with no promoting from me.

Saddest thing is she just walked around and looked at the equipment

I guess it doesn't help that mother and toddler groups are closed. Before lockdown, I had terrible PND and getting out to groups was the only thing keeping me going. I don't have mummy friends to meet up with in back gardens, I have no family. I just feel so terribly isolated and would usually cope with this by getting out and about, but there is nowhere to take a toddler.

I suppose the danger is that kids will struggle to social distance, and won't be organised into their little bubbles as they are at schools?

I do feel your frustration though! The zoo thing seems a bit bizarre as well - they're all struggling dreadfully, as they have to keep their animals obviously - they aren't saving any money by being closed, and they've all said that they've shown the outdoor bits can be opened safely. I don't see the difference between a zoo and a garden centre really?

I think the schools are doing their very best to prevent "mingling", and golf courses and garden centres are very different from a children's play park.

It's all very well saying you'll allow your own child to go in, when it will be empty because no-one else is doing the same. But how would you feel if there were loads of children and parents in the park?

There are other ways for children to let off stream besides going to a play park.

@x2boys Same story here. Our house faces a playground and there have been groups of kids there for days now, some of them for what feels like an entire day. It's so bloody unfair when I'm saying to my children that they can't play there.

I’ll join you even though my kids are grown! Shocking the way children have just been abandoned while adults get golf, garden centres, bowls, ikea etc

Our village has a brand new playground which has never been played on because it was completed just as the lockdown was announced.

There is also a playground for older children under construction which will be finished in about six weeks. I really hope they will be able to use them in the Summer holidays

To be fair the risk now is very low (thanks to the lockdown everyone but a few scientists now thinks wasnt necessary ). But if we could manage to hold our horses it could be very low indeed in just a few more weeks.

It is quite possible for children to have good mental health without access to play parks and soft play btw. Let's be honest, it's really parents who are suffering.

Golf courses and garden centres don’t have people climbing over the same bits of equipment though do they? So they aren’t really comparable.

It’s frustrating but I can understand why the measures have been taken. It is also very hard to socially distance in a busy park.

@AnnPerkins the really frustrating thing is if we all collectively worked to lower viral transmission for a few more weeks so much more stuff could safely reopen for the summer.

The risk was always low.

Open the parks now.

Here in Ireland the parks are opening with supervision and we went to a wildlife park at the weekend was very well organized.

I hear you. Children seem to be at the bottom of the pile in terms of government interest, investment and priority.

Go tonight when it's dark, OP, and snip them. I'll do the same. Pics or it didn't happen

The risk was always low

Please explain.

I get the frustration, I have 3 DC 3,6 and 8. However my middle child is just about to go back to school and as we have followed all rules I am confident the risk of him having Corona and passing it on to his bubble is small. Hopefully all the other families with children are following the same rules. If one child has symptoms that's 10 children and 2 teachers off for 2 weeks.

Appreciate someone may have caught it from parents going to work/ supermarket etc but if I knew his bubble had been compromised because children had been playing in a pay area I would be pretty pissed off.

Kids have been treated like trash throughout this. Even things they could enjoy and maintain social distance remain closed, let alone playgrounds. It's a disgrace.

I can't see why zoos aren't open either. If you can walk around and look at a dahlia you can walk around and look at a monkey

I'm pretty tempted to do this. I thought sunlight killed covid fast anyway. I have no idea why playgrounds are still taped up.

@Porcupineinwaiting

The risk was always low

Please explain.

This isn't an especially dangerous virus.

Children are almost entirely unaffected.

They don't seem to spread it effectively.

It does not appear to be possible to pick up enough virus from surfaces to get infected.

We didn't know all of this in March, but we have known it for weeks.

The difference in virus transmission possibilities between golf vs a play park and zoo vs a garden center are obvious. If they aren't obvious to you be grateful someone else is making the decisions for you for your safety.

It is quite possible for children to have good mental health without access to play parks and soft play btw

What other activities can you suggest that parents haven't exhausted for the past two and a half months.

I agree children have been screwed over and forgotten about. We forget that they are our future.

It’s been rammed home again and again the impact on children staying indoors not outside. It’s been rammed home about limiting screen time - 20 minutes or something for primary I think, and the detrimental impact this has on a number of skills, this just doesn’t apply when they are playing xbox all day by the way.

Lol I know it’s only a film. But wasn’t Wall-E basically like a world that some people seem to want. At home using their tech. Think about those people lives.

There is already a problem with obese children in the U.K. They have just spent how many weeks sedentary eating all the food their panic buying parents got.

Many children live in places without their own outside space and need the parks open. Grassy areas around here are a no go area because of dog owners who overtook them years ago cos well kids have the parks and adults can look out for the dog shit.