Doing this to a child is wrong

[fuckxmas]

BBC report : His said his 14-year-old daughter had not left her bedroom for four days, with meals being left outside her door, until the family learned the result was void on Thursday

This is so wrong to do to a child

I’m sure the door wasn’t locked.

It doesn’t need to be locked if the person is told they are not allowed to leave, for it to be false imprisonment.

My 12 year old just stayed in his room, with meals and snacks delivered, for 10 days when asked to isolate as a close contact. I was really proud of him. We gave him the option and did not force him or put pressure in him to do this, but he wanted to to keep other vulnerable family members safe. We chatted outside his door and FaceTimed and had Netflix parties with him - he was delighted to be allowed a TV in his room for the first time, and was honest ok- I had / have no concerns about his mental health - I think me missing him was the worst part of it!

Maybe the 14 year old in this article was brought up by adults who don't describe this as being "left alone to brood on it like a plague victim". Maybe they have parents who have taught them about social responsibility and that sometimes we have to take steps that inconvenience us but protect others.

Maybe. And maybe this child was brought up with people who don’t understand the likely impact of four days of solitary confinement on a potentially ill teenager.

@flaviaritt

And if boiled eggs are runny we can dip our toast in confused

Of course we can. I am not saying the egg is runny. I am saying we don’t know, but, IF the situation is X, it is very wrong. Not hard to understand.

Yes, basically the whole thread is pointless because the answer is

• it might be really bad

• it might not be bad at all

...depends on loads of stuff we don't know.

So yeah, good thread OP.

That the know of yet!

Read the article. The 14 year old had received a positive test result and it does not say she was locked in her room. The test was an error and they were then told it was void, and she has since had a negative result.

I assume the 14 year old decided to stay in her room due to fear of spreading her COVID to the rest of the family. I also assume she was checked on regularly and actually did leave the room to use the toilet!

adoiada

Well, yes. If the 14 year old volunteered for this, I have no issue.

If I tested positive then I'd WANT to isolate rather than risk infecting my family. I'm still considering whether to go to my parents on Christmas Day or stay in my house alone. My mental health has been terrible BUT I work in retail and the thought of accidentally infecting my mum and dad would finish me off.

She's 14 not 4. Most 14 yr olds I know need extracting from their room not encouraging to stay in it. Assuming there are other people in the house and she has technology to communicate to friends I'm sure she'll come out it unscathed. Maybe if everyone took self isolating so seriously it wouldn't be spreading as it is!

Theres not enough in the article to make a judgment either way. The daughter may have been distressed, and the parents may have known that this would be exceptionally hard for their child to deal with; similarly, the child might have enjoyed it and the parents knew it would be something within their ability to cope well with and even enjoy. Perhaps a parent is very vulnerable in which case they, or perhaps the daughter herself, wanted to do what she thought was right. I don't really know why he is moaning to the paper about it the tests being wrong, presumably he had some say in how as a family they dealt with it.

@fuckxmas

BBC report : His said his 14-year-old daughter had not left her bedroom for four days, with meals being left outside her door, until the family learned the result was void on Thursday

This is so wrong to do to a child

And OPs who post vague things like this with no context and no link should get a warning and then banned if they do it again.

Because I am assuming that she wasn't locked in and that she had people who cared for her bringing her food and ensuring she was okay

Locked in isn’t relevant if she has been told she has to do it. Prisoners have people bringing them food. Both irrelevant.

I doubt there's a single person who thinks this would be ok if the child was forced to do it against their will, or who thinks it wouldn't be ok if the child happily chose to do it.

@flaviaritt

adoiada

Well, yes. If the 14 year old volunteered for this, I have no issue.

So what on earth is the point of commenting based on facts you know nothing about.

You may as well comment on a 'My child doesn't like their teacher' thread and post 'well assuming she beats the kids black and blue I'm not surprised'.

FFS. Food, phone, internet, laptop, tv, maybe her own bathroom, no need to be nice to little sister or polite to mum and dad. Most teens dream of that. She was probably pissed off it was only 4 days.

And maybe this child was brought up with people who don’t understand the likely impact of four days of solitary confinement on a potentially ill teenager

The likely impact is nothing at all. Especially since this teenager wasn’t actually feeling ill.

The main in the articule is a PR guy. He knows how to word things.

He specifically said his daughter "had not" left her room. Not "could not".

So what on earth is the point of commenting based on facts you know nothing about.

What is the point in any form of speculation? I am making the point that it is wrong to tell a child they must stay in their room for several days at a time. Whether that happened in this case is irrelevant. There is a clear chance it did and I wish to comment on that, so I will.

lyralalala

But equally, he also knows how to word things. So he knows it probably sounds better to say ‘had not’ rather than ‘could not’. Because one is okay and the other isn’t.

@flaviaritt

And if my DD was worried about having coronavirus, she would need hugs, and to talk about her worries, not to be left alone to brood on it like a plague victim. Awful.

So not self isolating then?

The likely impact is nothing at all. Especially since this teenager wasn’t actually feeling ill.

I think that shows an alarming lack of empathy. For this whole year, young people (who might reasonably lack enough information to properly contextualise the threat to them, personally), have been told that this is an existential threat. To say a child doesn’t need their parents’ support or affection for four days, to me, is inconceivable.

There is a clear chance it did and I wish to comment on that, so I will.

There isn't a clear chance at all

Mydogmylife

We would isolate as a family, as per the law. I wouldn’t confine my child to a single room, alone.

titchy

Why not?

@tigger001

We know a family who's daughter self isolated in her bedroom for 14 days as she had been on holiday with her father and upon returning to the blended family home they needed to protect the other vulnerable daughter.

It hasn't scarred her for life

With the best will in the world it’s much too early to say whether this or anything else has scarred her for life.

At the moment we are all doing what we need to do to get by. It’s only when the danger has passed and we settle into the post-CoVid era we will be able to see and assess who has been harmed by the current crisis.

That being said, if your friends child and the child in the news story come from normally supportive, loving homes I doubt that being isolated in their rooms for a few days will harm them.

I had swine flu at 14, I had a newborn sister so my family left food outside by door and I only left my room for 5 days to go to the toilet, it was difficult but I understood it had to be done to keep them safe.