Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that those people calling for the schools to shut should check their privilege

517 replies

berryfull · 03/01/2021 19:11

It’s all very well and good to decide to keep your kids home or call for the schools to shut when you have enough space/have a garden/ have enough bedrooms/ have a home office/ can work from home/one parent doesn’t work/ you can work flexibly / your work can furlough you/ you have enough savings/ you have enough money/ you have WiFi / you have a device per child/ your children can read and write/ your children are independent/ your children are neurotypical/ your children don’t have disabilities/ you’re not scared of your partner/ you’re not scared of your children/ your mental health doesn’t make you a danger to your children/ yiu can cope with the stress/ your partner isn’t a danger to your children/ your health is good enough to allow you to look after your children/ your education level is sufficient for you to help educate your children you can feed your children throughout the day ..... etc etc

Stop presuming that all children will be safer at home. There are bigger and comparable dangers to the Covid that school keeps children safe from. And the vunerable ones are not being looked after.

Keep the schools open .... please!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 03/01/2021 20:03

I've also noticed that the biggest shouters of "close the schools" are those whose kids will still go into the hub schools. So their childcare is covered.

I don't think it's so much "check your privilege" more "I'm alright Jack".

lunalucie · 03/01/2021 20:03

I agree with you OP. On my estate all the kids are out playing together and the teenagers are hanging around in gangs. It's not because parents don't care, it's because most of us on the estate are in jobs like supermarkets or caring and have to go to work so who looks after them if not our friends and family? Closing the schools has no impact around here, we've been in local lockdown since the end of last September and had a firebreak now another lockdown and cases are still increasing daily. I don't know what the answer is but as long as parents are still going out to work school closures won't benefit anyone in my area, we are already more disadvantaged than others and I fear for the kids futures around here because they are falling behind and being forgotten.

Rustyigloo · 03/01/2021 20:03

I know I feel so "priviledged" looking after 64 children whilst wearing minimal PPE.

It's also incredibly easy to keep a 2 meter distance with children when you are helping them with toileting, rescuing them when they're stuck on play equipment and tending to their injuries.

I am just bathing in all this "priviledge".

bloodyhairy · 03/01/2021 20:03

Teachers aren't the only staff at risk in schools!

Pillowaddict · 03/01/2021 20:04

Dh and I both work full time from home, 2 kids 8 and 5, one with asd the other too young to self entertain. But - I'm glad schools are closing to reduce numbers- if those of us who can manage to muddle through do, those who need to be in school are exposed to less risk. I've never been so glad my mum is a retired teacher and no longer in the classroom, I feel so sorry for teachers who seem to get all the criticism and have their own personal concerns dismissed in all of this.

HeyBaby2020 · 03/01/2021 20:06

@EvilEdna1

Maybe everyone who has no experience of working in a school should 'check their privilege'.
I work in a school and agree with OP
JustSaying101 · 03/01/2021 20:06

Hi @berryfull - do your children have an EHCP and are they at a Mainstream or Specialist Provision? Pretty sure that if they have an EHCP, this would mean they are able to continue within school, alongside keyworker children. Otherwise, if you are struggling, do speak to your Head and see if there is any way that your children might be able to be accommodated. Agree that it is a crappy situation all round, particularly with another national lockdown looming. Some do have it way easier and it is hitting those hardest that don't. There really should be more support in place and I hope that during this period, vital services will be available to those that require them. Hang in there, wishing you and your family all the best.

HeyBaby2020 · 03/01/2021 20:06

@IHateCoronavirus

Schools are open for all vulnerable children.
No they ain’t! Not all
queenofthelamas · 03/01/2021 20:06

What about those who are at risk by schools staying open OP?
What about those who are venerable? Is it a case once again of well it's doesn't matter as long as my kids are sorted.

Where do you work OP I'm very interested to know?

Watchingbehindmyhands · 03/01/2021 20:08

My child is vulnerable to covid. What about him? His right to an education alongside his peers? His right to positive mental health and well,being? Because it seems you expect him to stay at home so others can stay in school.

TaxTheRatFarms · 03/01/2021 20:09

Shamelessly copy and pasting my own post from another thread because it bears repeating. Op that doesn’t mean I don’t have any sympathy for your situation/people in that situation - I absolutely do and it’s heartbreaking.

*The problem is expecting schools alone to be responsible for all of the issues facing young people. When I was at school, schools were for education. That’s it. Now they have to cover education, safeguarding, pastoral, supporting vulnerable families, supporting children with mental health issues (our school had access a psychologist for a short time which was amazing) . They also have to help families in need access food over holidays and school closures. And all with budget cut after budget cut.

How does anyone seriously think this is sustainable?

WHERE are the other government agencies that’s should be stepping in and supporting children and young people? Why must everything be done by schools?

Schools have had to pick up a lot of extra work due to government cuts (which they happily do, as they care about their students) but insinuating that schools closures will damage children is putting the “blame” on completely the wrong place.

Schools can NOT do everything for everyone. Even if we want to.

WHERE is the government? Where is the funding for agencies to step in support children during every closures?

Why does everything have to be left to school, and teachers then demonised when we have to close to keep our staff and students safe?*

AldiAisleofCrap · 03/01/2021 20:10

@berryfull AIBU to think that those people calling for the schools to stay open should check their privilege?
Not everyone will have a mild illness if they contract Covid-19 , it’s highly likely I will become severely ill or die.
My children’s right to a mother is more important than another child’s receiving education in a school building.

JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 03/01/2021 20:10

my estate all the kids are out playing together and the teenagers are hanging around in gangs. It's not because parents don't care, it's because most of us on the estate are in jobs like supermarkets or caring and have to go to work so who looks after them if not our friends and family?

Which I think is exactly what will happen if schools close. At least if they're in school we know they're contained in one place.

ChloeDecker · 03/01/2021 20:10

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

Where were you, OP, when the thousands of vulnerable children had to endure self isolation periods, without even being able to get fresh air and exercise outside their home, some running over a month, last term because schools did not have safer Covid measures?

I imagine she was busy looking after her two disabled children whilst WFH

But not busy now?

I’m so sorry OP that this is incredibly hard on you but the issues with schools right now is not because of privileged people wanting an easier life.

People have tried to ask, no beg their MPs and councillors and raise issues of Mumsnet for months now and were shot down by posters that schools had to be open at all costs.
By schools being open at all costs, the risk to disadvantaged and vulnerable children has in fact grown, now affecting families like yours.
If the government were to agree to the few measures that education establishments have been asking for many months, then more vulnerable children would be in school tomorrow and if not, have the best possible care until they are.

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 20:11

JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

To think that those people calling for the schools to shut should check their privilege
Robbybobtail · 03/01/2021 20:11

I agree. I’m a sahm and the dc’s being off doesn’t affect me that much but I still find it hard. They became so lethargic, lazy and bored in the last lockdown.

How the effing hell they expect people who are working and have no childcare to cope, especially when they cant be left with grandparents, I just can’t comprehend. What about single working parents? Self employed? What do they suggest these people do exactly?

Schools reopened in September and the numbers didn’t rise. Schools are not to blame for the rise in numbers - it’s the winter, this is what happens every winter - viruses get worse.

I get they have to do something if space is running out in hospitals but it’s really, really shit.

TrashCanBird · 03/01/2021 20:12

@Pukkatea

And I'm sick of the number of people dying and everything else that has to be restricted so that children can go to school and spread the virus. People are losing their lives and their livelihoods.

Agreed.

JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 03/01/2021 20:12

@ChloeDecker what do you mean?

Your post attacked the OP for not doing enough for vulnerable children. You asked where she was. How is it relevant where she is now?

x2boys · 03/01/2021 20:12

I agree not all vulnerable children are being looked after I'm on the thread about disabled children ,my child has a full EHCP is in a special school ,and his school was closed from march untill September last year ,I'm in two minds about this on one hand I want him to go to school he needs to go to school ,on the other hand I am concerned how COViD might affect him whilst he's a healthy child ,he does have an underlying chromosome deletion and I have no idea how COViD might affect that ,I'm feeling quite conflicted about this I hope special school,s are not forgotten about like a lot of them were in the first lockdown ,but I'm very concerned about my child's health .

FrippEnos · 03/01/2021 20:12

berryfull

So what are you doing to ensure that schools can open in as safe a way as possible, so that pupils, teachers and staff do not get ill and can remain open?

HeyBaby2020 · 03/01/2021 20:12

@Watchingbehindmyhands

My child is vulnerable to covid. What about him? His right to an education alongside his peers? His right to positive mental health and well,being? Because it seems you expect him to stay at home so others can stay in school.
Just because your child is vulnerable doesn’t mean every child should be off school
BubblyBarbara · 03/01/2021 20:13

Once I have checked my privilege, can I then continue to hold the same opinion or should I have changed it?

JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows · 03/01/2021 20:13

I do think that the government should keep schools open but allow any families who have concerns to keep their children off if that's what they want to do, without facing fines.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 03/01/2021 20:13

And the vunerable ones are not being looked after

So OP are you campaigning for more social workers, police, foster careers etc or just think it down to teachers?

Many teachers will have their own children to keep safe as well as families. They went into teaching to educate I would imagine not be childcare in a pandemic.

Woolff · 03/01/2021 20:14

The very fact that you've got such a long list of potential circumstances in your OP demonstrates how actually none of the issue are more important than all of the others.

Most people will have a mix of the privileges and the vulnerabilities to which you refer, and the answer still isn't to let the virus spread without mitigation. It's ridiculous to say that thr vast majority of children aren't going to be fine at home with their families. Any where this is already a concern should clearly be supported, but not necessarily by schools.

Schools are not responsible for fixing all of the issues people in society might have to face.