Feel like the country is opening back up but not for people with young kids

[Bookworm36]

I am feeling so so isolated. I had been feeling pretty good until last week. I don't know what happened but a huge wave of sadness just hit me and now I'm waking up each morning feeling miserable.
Im a sahm mum, so in that respect very lucky that I'm not having to juggle work etc. But my life is just completely empty!!
Me and my children have done every activity, game, walk etc that we can think of and we are now all bored out of our minds. I have not spent a single minute alone since 23rd march.
As of tomorrow all shops, town centres etc are opening up. My parents are so happy, theyve been to lovely villages in the countryside, to ironbrige, and are now going to go to Chester, Shrewsbury, Manchester for a lovely day out.
But for me I still feel trapped!! I don't think that taking young kids to these places is a good idea, so we are still just going to be stuck with at home, with bad weather at the moment too
I didn't really have much of a social life before all this, but the problem has been magnified by lockdown. I'm seeing other people having fun nights with family and friends on zoom etc. We have none of that. When this is over I am going to make some positive changes and I'm trying to focus on that but anyone else feeling really isolated?

I feel stuck too. I'm in London without a car. Don't want to take kids on public transport and have to wear a mask, there isn't much to do within walking distance and no family and friends in walking distance either.

Our school made us sign an agreement that if we let our reception children return to school then we mustn't mix with other people or children and keep a 2 metres distance at all times. İf we are found not to have done so then we would be kept off of school for 2 weeks and so will the kids in their bubble in their class! İ had to cancel my meet ups as some of the teachers live in my village so he could play with a. Few select kids at school. İt was madness. İ really didn't know what to do. Send or not. But I figured if he went back at least he gets the interaction. But now his brother and sister don't. Considering taking him out again so we can do as we please!

Totally agree and to be honest we have started using common sense instead of following the rules.

I have a 5 and 2 year old. We have been going on scooter rides with friends (bikes and scooters really help 2yo keep social distance without trying) and having friends to play in garden with no social distancing between kids. I feel the risk of them catching it is vanishingly small as the numbers are low in our area and I feel the kids need that interaction. I'm sure others won't agree. We do take some measures, so not sharing food/ drink and not doing hugs/ wrestling etc! But just running around together and playing on play equipment in garden feels reasonable to us.

Definitely not counting how many in a group, we had 8 the other day 🤷‍♀️

DD is back at school so we are already exposed to the germ pool as it were, as are most of our friends.

We aren't seeing grandparents or anyone at a higher level of risk.

The other night I met a 3 friends in the local park after kids bedtime and we drank wine and chatted sitting 2m apart. I think you have to find ways to work around things, it's so important for our mental health. Really appreciate its much harder for single parents to see their friends without kids though.

I feel the same.

By and large, the only things opening for children are large expensive attractions, while the playground in our village (free, on our doorstep) remains locked, as does the one in the next village and both the ones in our nearest town. Our cheap local pool is closed. our free library is closed.

"I have not spent a single minute alone since 23rd march."

Are you a single mum?

Try shielding with young children.

Our primary school has opened for all years and nursery, and it is amazing. Kids do much happier, parents so much less stressed (we both work fulltime). :)

@Wondergirl100

Children under 5 are almost completely protected from Covid (I work in this field and if you like can link to senior paediatric consultants work on this and writing in the press) Please can you send me this info, I'd love to pass it onto some friends so we can arrange a socially distanced playdate

Transmission outdoors is vanishingly unlikely - children NEED contact with other kids and time outdoors so just meet outside and make sure adults do social distance. Wash your kids hands and let them play with friends

The rules in England allow people to mix - children under 10 are not advised by Sage to social distance in school - they are very very low risk of even getting Covid and outdoor transmission is almost non existent.

Please let your children play, wash their hands a lot and let them get back with their friends.

Thank you so much for this

51Wondergirl100 I'd be really interested in some links if you want to post them or pm them. My DS is almost 6 but I'd still like to see some proper infom

@Wondergirl100 sorry, previous post failed to rage you! I'd like to see some papers too!

@Wondergirl100 sorry if I have got it wrong about small children having to stay 2 metres apart still when meeting in play dates etc outside - I agree that it is ridiculous too - but the gov.uk website does still seem to be saying that, unless I’m misunderstanding - www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing#meeting-family-and-friends

If under 5s don’t have to socially distance outside in parks anymore, then great!

I & some friends have basically agreed not to bother enforcing social distancing on our DCs when we meet up. Judging by what I see / hear many parents round our way have let that one slide & I don't blame them one bit

I had a baby 4 weeks ago bringing our family size up to 5 - we ordered a new car in January to arrive in March/April which obviously didn’t happen and it’s still not here now. We don’t fit into our current car 🤦‍♀️ Apparently it will be here “mid July” but who knows...

You cannot please anyone on MN! There were about opening zoos, and then they did that, now people commenting on prices!

Well, it's a fact that trips to zoos and the like are beyond the reach of lots of families, just as it's a fact that many others can afford it. The places mentioned that children could theoretically now access do require funds. Lower income families are much more likely to rely on free or low cost activities like playparks and swimming pools. It isn't necessarily a complaint about the cost of zoos and the like to point out that there are lots of children excluded from them on money grounds, and thus still with very little available to them.

Totally agree. I am a single mum to a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old. I have also had to wfh and work has been so busy. My kids have spent so much time on ipads and watching TV. I dont have a garden but I do live near some green spaces but the kids are so bored of the same walks and I am fed up of the dirty looks and been shouted at if my kids are running about and get close to someone. The playgrounds are locked up and my children are really upset every time they realise we are walling around the park but cannot go to the playground or the cafe.

The easy and safe places I usually take them would be the playground soft play and play groups. All obviously shut. I could afford the zoo and I do drive but to be honest it would be so hard keeping them together in a large, busy and unknown area without another adult. All my friends have small kids too and grandparents are isolating.

Thankfully they have gone back to nursery a few days a week this week so they can start to interact with other kids again and I can sneak out in my working day to pick up the essentials I need.

I've booked to take the kids to the zoo - no offers £70 for 4 people when it isn't even all open. This is only an option for people who have spare money.

Yanbu at all OP. Playparks being shut is a disgrace.

www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2020/may/17/reopen-the-schools-or-a-generation-will-bear-the-mental-health-scars

This doctor Lee Hudson - is a senior consultant at Great Ormond Street hospital - he is one of several doctors now lobbying for kids to be allowed to play together normally and get back to school without social distnacing.

re. social distancing - you need to make sensible decisions. I have a 3 yr old nephew he can understand not to actually jump on other kids. Outdoors transmission is so low that if youare outdoors and kids running about it really doesn't matter if they go nearer each other somtimes.

Govt guidance for schools is that children under 10 can be in small groups with no social distancing.

Other EU countries do not enforce social distancing on under 10s. Denmark, Holland, all schools are open with just lots of hand washing and outdoor play.

twitter.com/dftbubbles?lang=en

Also this. Don't forget the bubbles - a team of paediatricians who are posting a lot of information about how unlikely children are to get sick or transmit covid to others.

twitter.com/apsmunro/status/1272821244837199872

I’ve just had a message from our nursery about all the changes they are going to have to make and things like bubbles. I don’t want any of this. I don’t want my children to learn and develop in a world of restrictions, where you can’t play with certain people, you can’t walk in certain parts of a building. People are out there protesting about BLM and trans rights which boil down to freedoms and inclusivity while in the same breath we are stripping the youngest in our society of these very things and teaching them to stay apart, not to mix, not to run free.

Insane times.

It's just all a nonsense. People are getting rid of sand - in case children 'put covid in it'.

How do they think kids move about in the rest of the world? Do they glide without touching anythning?

Adults can move freely around supermarkets coughing/ picking stuff up- but children the LEAST risk group - who are vanishingly unlikely to get Covid - so so rare even the rare dangerous complications are rarer than childhood cancer/ car accidents - who appear not to play a major role in transmission - children - are put under the HARSHEST conditions.

I don't understand why we're not allowed to bubble with a small number of other families so children can play freely within that bubble.

Obviously if someone in that bubble tested positive, everyone would need to isolate, but I'd gladly do it if children could be with their friends.

I have a 3yr. Last week we went out and met a friend with similar age child

My 3yr knows to stay away /not close - as told her constantly from when we deliver food to grandad and leave at his door

But they played really nicely. Chase and kicking a ball etc

Did my and her sanity a world of good

If pre schools and cm and nurseries can go back and we all know 1/2/3 aren’t he self going to not touch /play other children

So pick a friend a friend and have them as your bubble

We miss all our daily activists - old people home - animals class - m&t - art class - music etc

But going out to feed ducks - walk round park - nt properties is good