To think the gathering of teens/twenties in the park/skatepark are not doing any harm?

[CrowdedHouseinQuarantine]

Particularly now?
it has been tough for them and this is their new normal

I think it’s more than fine, and if anything it should be encouraged.

Obviously you’re covering a few year groups in your OP, but collectively, people in that age group have sacrificed a huge amount for an illness that is likely to have very little effect on them.

Many of them will have lost out on being able to get a driving license this year, work experience or internships, A Levels and GCSEs and everything that comes with that, being able to start university normally, travel experiences, proms, leavers dos, first festivals. There’s loads they have been forced to give up, and if people can recognise that and still begrudge them meeting their friends in a park, then those people must be very selfish.

I would support my teens doing this. I don't believe it's risk free but it's a level of risk I would prefer to have over the punishing conditions we have had.

"It makes me really cross. Any of you who think teens will maintain the 2 metres unless they are in your garden in plain sight are living in a dream world"

I don't think this is totally true. My DC who are teens/young adults are very careful not to get too close to their friends who they meet up outside, as I am shielding and they do try to be careful. (My DH has seen this as he went back to drop a phone off to one of them so obviously they had no warning he would see them).

I do agree that some DC aren't as cautious but we need to be realistic - for a start the 2m is likely to be dropped very soon, and as you say, it's not just teens it's adults (but of course teens are the ones judged most for this!) DC and teenagers are the ones who most need to be socialising (not through a screen!) with their peers and it's also harmful to their mental health for them to act so unnaturally for so long. They also should be exercising or getting fresh air outdoors. At some stage life is going to move on from the current restrictions and we need to be realistic and look to the future.

I am shielding so some could argue my DC should be shielding as well and not socialising at all but I do not want them to make such a large sacrifice for my benefit - I don't think it is fair or reasonable especially at this stage in their lives.

I accept this is different from the situation of DC shielding which must be a lot harder.

I hope any families who are prepared to 'take the risk' and only doing so on their own behalf. If parents are happy to let their teenagers hang out 'in groups in parks and skateparks 'take the risk'' for yourself - not for me. Don't send these same teenagers into school, potentially putting me, my colleagues, the others in the bubble and all of their families in danger.

I have lost count of the things I have had to sacrifice - a wedding, a graduation, two fiftieth birthday celebrations, a much needed holiday abroad, seeing and holding my newly arrived baby nephew. So yes, damn right I expect everyone else to do the same.

Every group of teens I have seen in the fields, woods, by canal has definitely not been social distancing. I have 5 lots of 15 in my FE bubble next week and I am worried as I know the ones I have coming in are the ones most likely to have been mixing

The teens in the parks near me are sitting well spaced in their groups, and I'm very happy to see them actually getting to socialise in person.
Maybe in some areas they're not all so compliant, but then neither are lots of adults.

We're all allowed to meet outdoors in grips of six, so I'm not sure why people think teens should be treated differently.
If pp's have made the choice not to go out themselves, that's their choice. But not one to inflict on their or other people's teenagers/family.

They have had 3 months of unnatural living imo, and Fear.
next time I see them, I will count how many there are
i forgot about the 6 people bubble tbh when i posted.

School isn’t an option for my 17 year old, but if it were I’d have no hesitation in sending him in after hanging about at the park with his friends. I can’t see how that would increase his risk of infecting any of his teachers considering I too work in a school, and in a year group that isn’t socially distancing especially well.

You’d be at morse risk of catching something if I sent my teenager into school because he’d caught something from me doing my keyworker job than because he’d met up with a bunch of teenagers who’ve mostly been stuck to their computer screens for weeks.

"I have lost count of the things I have had to sacrifice - a wedding, a graduation, two fiftieth birthday celebrations, a much needed holiday abroad, seeing and holding my newly arrived baby nephew. So yes, damn right I expect everyone else to do the same."

Look I know it's shit and lots of us have sacrificed lots of things, but do you genuinely think as an adult "'my life is shit so I want other people and children's life to be shit too"?

If restrictions are lifted gradually (and change perhaps for different areas and different age groups) I would much much rather they are lifted first for the age group of DC and teenagers. Yes we have missed birthdays and holidays but there are other birthdays and holidays for adults - but DC only (for example) sit their exams or have their 18th birthdays or have a freshers week, and the usual rites or passage, once - they can't do them again!

I'm missing lots of things now but I have had those rite of passage moments and I'm an adult!

I am fully supportive of my teens meeting their friends in the parks.

They are more likely to injure themselves falling out the trees they have climbed than catching coronavirus

It's not exactly a choice though is it? It's called following the rules. As I said previously IF teenagers are mixing socially outside and keeping 2m between themselves then that's fine. But I know that many of them are not.

I have not made all of these sacrifices to have them all swept away because some parents are happy to 'take the risk'. As I say take the risk for yourself - don't impose it one me.

Hmm. There was a guy at the skate park who had a beard and was also bald the other day, so definitely not in his teens I think he needs to get a life personally

They can't be repeated though can they? I will never again be able to go to my DDs graduation, I can't rewind time to be there for my sister and hold her newborn son. they are sacrifices - I don't want them to have been for nothing just because someone else could not follow the rules.

We went for a walk last night and there was a whole field full of teens in groups, another 12 playing football, another 10 girls walking along as a big group. None of them SD.

In the park near us there is a skate park and it hasn't been empty at all since March. Never fewer than 6 in there at a time.

@noideaatallreally

No one is imposing a risk on you. Your job carries risk. As does mine. It wouldn’t occur to me to think I can dictate what the families of the children I teach do, or think that they are imposing risk on me if they don’t stick religiously to guidelines.

Even if they are sticking to guidelines, there’s still risk from them doing their jobs. They aren’t imposing risk on me. I’m choosing to take the risk for myself by going into work.

And no. it's not because I want teenagers to be miserable just because I have missed out. We are all making sacrifices - I just want people to have patience. The virus will be with us for much longer if we rush things now. Go to the park, mix with your friends - 2m apart in small groups OR don't come into school.

I'm not dictating to anyone. Those are the rules set by the government.

I don't believe that somehow we will be so on top of this by September (or January) that we can go back to 'normal' physical distancing and still have very low transmission.

The media are reporting that social distancing is due to be reduced this week "1m + rule"

It is unreasonable to be judgemental about teens breaking social distancing when adults are breaking the rules left,right and centre. A group of 10 teens outdoors is safer than a sleepover of 10 teens. Many primary school children are back at school in bubbles of 15. These kids will be socialising with other friends and family out of school but are presumably under less scrutiny as they are with adults.

@noideaatallreally

I hope any families who are prepared to 'take the risk' and only doing so on their own behalf. If parents are happy to let their teenagers hang out 'in groups in parks and skateparks 'take the risk'' for yourself - not for me. Don't send these same teenagers into school, potentially putting me, my colleagues, the others in the bubble and all of their families in danger.

I have lost count of the things I have had to sacrifice - a wedding, a graduation, two fiftieth birthday celebrations, a much needed holiday abroad, seeing and holding my newly arrived baby nephew. So yes, damn right I expect everyone else to do the same.

How can you expect your bubble of kids to only mix with those same kids outside of school? If the law allows them to meet up with 5 others - who are you to tell them they can only meet with the bubble?

Teenagers have been patient for 3 months. That’s quite a long time to be isolated in order to protect other people. They’re still limited because they can’t go to each other’s houses, older ones can’t go to pubs, learn to drive, none can go to the cinema or do pretty much any of the things they enjoy. The one thing they can do is see each other outside. If, when doing that, they bend the rules slightly by having a group of 8 or moving within 2m I can’t say I begrudge them.

I am no longer as interested in the sacrifices of older people - by that I mean 30yo+ as I am in the sacrifices and losses that the younger generations have to bear. It is completely disproportionate.

I think older (30+) should not expect that youngsters be subjected to the same rules.

@noideaatallreally The whole strategy of the rules etc set by the government have been marked by incompetence, and their own breaking of them, from the start. At some point the risks and benefits are going to have to be weighted realistically - I simply don't believe they are being at the moment.

I also believe, as an extremely vulnerable person, that at some point the realisation must dawn that it isn't reasonable to expect the vast majority of the public to have their lives and freedoms hugely curtailed for long periods of time when the risks are simply not as great for them - the risks are much greater for me so unfortunately it falls on me to have my freedom curtailed (but by my own choice!) to protect myself.

I am quite happy (well not happy at all actually but you know what I mean!) for this to happen so my DC can have some chance of resuming their lives and experiencing everything I have been able to do already.

(I'm not some kind of saintly martyr by the way, i had a sobbing fit the other day as I wanted to go and choose some cake myself instead of someone having to do it for me I just do not like being some kind of sacrificial lamb with the tag line "protect the vulnerable" as it actively contributes to the "othering" and resentment we are already starting to see against us).

As I have said previously I am happy to be teaching anyone who has kept the rules. Of course I don't think all of their friends are in the school bubble. Meeting up outside 2m apart - fine, no issue. Hang out in large groups mock fighting, hugging, sharing water bottles - not ok.

www.cebm.net/covid-19/covid-19-evidence-is-lacking-for-2-meter-distancing/