Worried about five year old

[MrsCocoaJones8]

I can’t sleep.

She’s a sensitive soul. Feels things deeply. She’s in Primary 1. Up until about two/three weeks ago she was loving lockdown. She loves being at home with me. She would say that she missed her pals but that she liked being at home. She has a little sister who is 3 and they have become extremely close.

It’s been hard. My husband and I are working full time from home and trying to manage everything. Trying to do a bit of home educating (but not enough). I feel like I haven’t been a good mum, a good wife, a good employee. My mental health is declining.

The last 2/3 weeks she has become sad and withdrawn. Had enough now. Wants to go back to school. Wants to see her friends and go to to the park and the soft play and swimming. She’s bored. Wants to go and see her grandma (they love 100 miles away so we haven’t seen them in months other than on FaceTime).

God I have done my best. I have showered them with toys, crafts, activities, stuff to do in the garden. We have walked. Cycled. Baked. Cooked. Treasure hunts. I’m out of ideas and I’m on my knees. My sister writes letters with puzzles and gifts to keep them occupied and amused. There is screen time.

It’s like suddenly nothing is good enough. She is sad and demotivated and doesn’t want to do much at all.

We are in Scotland. So no school till August and even then it’s going to be very very part time by the sounds of things. I’m at a loss and I am so, so worried about her.

Cats are great pets, esp if you get them as kittens so they’re used to children. Much more interesting than rodents but so much less work that a dog. We’ve also decided to ignore social distancing for the kids. I let them play but keep my distance from the adults. And only meet outdoors.

absolutelyknackered can you tell me about the park walks - how do they work? Do the kids manage social distancing?

If you're thinking of a small pet, rats are great! More intelligent and playful than hamsters - they even come to their name.

We just have a whatapp group of local parents specifically for outside play.
We usually text intentions in the morning and try and give them a run in the afternoon depending on the weather.
We meet at a local landmark and there is stuff to climb ( think trees and rocks).
Most of the parents are relaxed about strict social distancing and we don't reinforce but they now naturally play games that don't involve touching such as hide and seek or climbing the landmarks.
The parents stand two metres apart
We are in London where a large number of parents believe that they have had COVID and the community transition is low

Also risk of transmitting outside is very low

We have children back in school now and believe me social distancing is not happening at break times. They are not touching but are getting close to each other to talk. You have to balance the risks. I can't spend my time telling them to stay apart or draw spaces on the playground. If you take skipping ropes or balls to the park it keeps their hands busy and they will still talk and chat.

To be honest I am relaxed about it now. We have hardly any in this area.

Absolutely
At the end of the day it's made a meaningful difference in their mental health
All of the other parents said about three weeks ago their children hit a low too.
Ours aren't in years to go back - so sept for us

My friends Son is 5 and apparently he broke down the other day on a walk. Just sat down and balled his eyes out saying when is he going to see people again and go to the play cafe :'( my friend is really hurt about it because you dont want your kids to be sad :(

Aww I feel for your friend what a worry for her.

My DC is the same age and it’s heartbreaking. Where we are the restrictions are tougher too. It’s so hard.

Poor wee soul

We are doing pretty well with reducing the R rate here in Scotland. I really, really hope that by the time August rolls around things will be so much better that schools might look more normal. Not sure where you are but in Glasgow we have a week of warm, dry weather coming so a perfect chance for your wee one to see friends if you can make that happen. I’ll admit that I have already broken the rules. My DS is 2.5 and there is no way he was going to keep distance from his grandparents so we went with the bubble idea and now we’re going round to their house again, which gives us both a bit of a boost.

Agent we are in Angus. We haven’t had any indication as to what the school week is going to look like yet but I am really hopeful that if things stay as they are, life might return to something resembling normality a little sooner than anticipated. I’ve heard on the grapevine that Tayside has hardly any cases at all.

All this is normal under the circumstances, no point overthinking it and leading to a feeling that something has gone very wrong. Life is full of ups and downs for most. Many kids have had a very sheltered life and taken it all for granted.

They've now learnt that they actually miss the things they assumed they didn't like before. Like many adults. It's a good thing, a good lesson in life. They will soon go back and it will be all forgotten for most.

@MrsCocoaJones8

Scotland with a P1 here too! My boy is the same. Really down and sad about most things.

Not much advice because I’m in exactly the same boat with full time working for both me and DH.

Sending