AIBU to think a 6 year old is too young to be forced to where a mask?

[Meadow1203]

This is now the law [in France] edited by MNHQ for clarity. I think this could be very frightening for a small child.

Wow I can’t actually believe so many people put a mask on their child. We need to expel all waste as part of bodily functions. Disgusting putting a mask on a child and it’s in fact child abuse you absolute tools. Wtf are you putting masks on children for, Jesus wept I bloody despair for the children

I think its fine mine love wearing them and see it as copying adults and grown up. We don't have to here but I let them. Pretty sure in China all wear them without a problem.

Too young. My daughters 9 and I think she’s to young to wear one. Her brother is sen and there’s 0 chance he would wear one and I really can’t be bothered with people getting up themselves in supermarkets and having to explain myself.

Kinny14

It is abusive, unless the child is happy with it. We talk a lot about bodily autonomy on MN, not forcing children to accept cuddles from grandparents, teaching them they have the right to say no, yet there is a significant number of people who are happily to force a child to cover their mouth and nose and impede their breathing. It’s shocking.

I had a chat with year 1&2 about masks during pshe and they mostly said they weren’t bothered if I wore one and many said they wore one in shops. Not fazed at all. In practise it will be another thing to mess about with, lose etc.

I assume your children will not get vaccinated either, if they tell you they don't find it pleasant and comfortable?

A piece of cloth does not impede breathing. I just did an intensive fitness class wearing a mask, I would be dead if it was so dangerous to wear. If it does in your case, you clearly have other health issues and should be shielding, so the issue is not relevant to you.

GoatCheeseTart

If that is to me, I have no health issues. I do not need to shield. I simply find it harder to breathe (as in, more effort) with a properly fitted mask. Please don’t tell me about my own health status, or my children’s vaccination status.

@GoatCheeseTart

I assume your children will not get vaccinated either, if they tell you they don't find it pleasant and comfortable?

A piece of cloth does not impede breathing. I just did an intensive fitness class wearing a mask, I would be dead if it was so dangerous to wear. If it does in your case, you clearly have other health issues and should be shielding, so the issue is not relevant to you.

No, my child won’t be vaccinated against covid either. Neither will myself or my partner be getting the vaccine.

@GoatCheeseTart. My child will be getting vaccinated as soon as I'm assured of the vaccine's safety. I will deal with his unwillingness and discomfort in exactly the same way I've dealt with it for all his other vaccinations... Holding him firmly and distraction while the nurse quickly does the business. I can do that for a vaccination because it only takes a moment and is over quickly. Not like wearing a mask for long periods of time... For that, you need the cooperation of the wearer. I can't physically hold a mask on him all day.

And nor will my child be getting the COVID vaccine. I will get it to protect her and others and help society get back to normal. But I will not give my child rushed through vaccinations for an illness that has not killed a single healthy child in this country.

My 4yo wears one. I introduced it at the same time as us having to wear one and let her pick the fabric she likes. There hasn’t been any drama or fear over wearing it

I wasn't talking specifically about Covid vaccine. Some people are saying it is child abuse to make children do something they don't actively like. My children did not find jabs fun and pleasant. So apparently I'm a child abuser because they are up to date.

@Kinny14 you really need to reconsider what you see as abusive to a child

Actually, I don't disagree with you on vaccinations at all @GoatCheeseTart. I just think mask-wearing is different... You can't achieve it by force (and holding a mask by force over a child's airways would be incredibly dangerous). Instead, you need compliance. And for that you really need some degree of comprehension and self-restraint, not characteristics common in very young children.

I presume those who are against this have not had the delight of 14 days’ isolation with a primary school child. We need to do everything to stop this virus. The selfishness of people is unbelievable. Kids are resilient, if you don’t make a song and dance about it, assuming no real medical reasons for exemption, then they’ll follow the others and be fine in a mask.

GoatCheeseTart

So are my child’s vaccinations up to date. I have no concern about those.

Thisismylife1

I am not going to subject my child to ‘whatever’ so you don’t have to stay in for two weeks.

MessAllOver I agree and I have no idea how to keep a mask on a 2-year old. The requirement discussed in this thread is about 6 and above though, which is very different.

Well just to point out that your kids are not getting the vaccine any time soon because it won’t be licenced for children since it hasnt been tested in kids. A little bit of general knowledge would go a long way on this thread.

ChaBishkoot

But it isn’t ‘just’ to point it out. It is to illustrate the point that yes, we need to fight the virus but no, we do not and must not go to any lengths to do that, not when those lengths put kids at risk or seriously infringe their right to bodily autonomy.

Who is putting kids at risk? My kids as you will see have been happily masked since March/April. And if there was a vaccine, I would give it to them. Happily. And take it myself. But then I know enough about this particular vaccine’s development to be pretty happy with the safety standards deployed.
We violate kid’s bodily autonomy in many ways- did you ask your child’s permission every time you changed a nappy? Wrestled them into clothes? Buckled them into a car seat? To me this is no different. And frankly, I told my kids it was a new rule, experimented with a few masks till we found one that worked and for over six months life has been absolutely fine.

Cha

You are simply refusing to see what is being said about duration and what I have said about what I would do (and what any decent parent would do) if something like a car seat or a nappy caused lasting discomfort or distress, as I believe a mask would. No, I don’t believe my child wearing a nappy infringes her rights. But if you want to continue making an argument that has already been addressed, be my guest.

My 7 and 3 year old wear them. So do the 6 years old children of my friends in Japan, and the 8, 6 and 3 year old daughters of my friends in Singapore. Not an issue at all - except if YOU make it one.

@ChaBishkoot

Well just to point out that your kids are not getting the vaccine any time soon because it won’t be licenced for children since it hasnt been tested in kids. A little bit of general knowledge would go a long way on this thread.

The Oxford Vaccine trials include children. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-05-22-oxford-covid-19-vaccine-begin-phase-iiiii-human-trials

But that’s a matter of perspective which YOU are failing to see. I think wearing a mask during a pandemic is frankly non negotiable for my entirely NT children and I am happy to enforce it. Just as wearing a seat belt in a car is. To me there is and has never been any difference.
Also as a mother who has seen her child ventilated and in intensive care and has repeat admissions with respiratory issues, let’s just say I have an entirely different perspective on what ‘bodily integrity’ looks like.
If you don’t think mask wearing is essential or important that’s fine. I do. And I am happy to insist on it, at the cost of some discomfort if need be.