I love it when threads spiral way out of control like this! It is very amusing to catch up on.
Making a child wear a mask when they don't want to is abusive? Recently I have been updating my friends in the (now-Covid-free) place that I live with ridiculous behaviour and statements from my fellow brits re: covid regulations (while speculating about why we have been covid-free here for months and why some countries, the UK included, are getting worse and worse with no end in sight.) I can't help but feel that it is attitudes like this which are dragging this thing out. I'll be sure to add this statement to the list of most-ridiculous-things-I-have-heard, the next time it comes up in conversation.
It is very sad. I never realised how selfish we had become, as a nation. I suffer from severe anxiety and had a panic attack the first few times I wore a mask - I wouldn't have dreamed of not wearing one though, or banging on about my own rights to not ever feel anything unpleasant, knowing that without one I could accidentally be the cause of someone's death, the cause of someone losing their beloved parent, the cause of so much pain. It shocks and saddens me that asking a child to do something they don't want to do is considered 'abusive' but allowing them to potentially spread a sometimes-fatal virus is okay to you.
My three year old wears a mask. All of my (3-7 year old) students do. I never heard any complaints. Did any of the parents have a battle at home about it? Maybe. But they obviously did it because as parents we sometimes need to make our children do things that they don't want to do. And if there were any problems, the kids must have gotten over it quickly as they are all fine now.
My son hates car seats - he still sits in one, so he will be safe. He doesn't like vegetables but he still has to eat them, to be healthy. He doesn't always like kindergarten, he still has to go, to learn. Sometimes he had almighty tantrums and his heart almost breaks because he desperately wants to do something dangerous; he still can't do it. When he fell and hit his head, he was really scared of getting stitches. But guess what? He still had to get them. And yes, even if he hated wearing a mask, he would still be wearing one, because I want him to learn how to be responsible, considerate, kind, and to do whatever he can to keep the vulnerable safe, even if it means that he feels temporarily bad in some way. I expect these things make me an abusive parent, in your eyes. But what a lesson your daughter is learning by being allowed to go without a mask just because she doesn't like it, when her going without a mask could cause so much suffering! I hope her life is very easy and that she isn't ever expected to do anything she doesn't want to do for the rest of her life, because she will certainly get a nasty shock.