To think Boris’ letter to working parents missed the mark

[SuddenlyMummy]

Am I being unreasonable for feeling more frustrated after reading it?

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9204433/amp/Boris-Johnson-sends-open-letter-Britains-parents-No-10-plans-relax-exercise-rules.html

It seems well intentioned and no doubt intended to make us as parents feel more supported, and better understood by the people who are making important decisions affecting our daily lives. I doubt Boris intended it to feel like a kick in the gut.

To me at least, the fact that someone could even suggest that it’s possible to deal with the challenges of homeschooling and their day jobs ‘magnificently’ seems completely out of touch. Actually more than that - it feels unfair to suggest that it’s possible to do even an adequate job of educating your own children whilst at the same time attempting to meet the basic demands of work.

And who are all these super-parents who are also “meeting all the other demands that small people generate from breakfast until bedtime”? Because I’m not one of them. 99% of my homeschooling efforts end in my child flopping under the table pretending to be asleep, leaving me with 86 photos or videos of her non-cooperation for me to edit down into a few seconds of what could be mistaken for a successful learning moment to upload onto Tapestry.

I found my son eating my face cream earlier this week and today I spontaneously burst into tears on a zoom call with 92 colleagues before remembering that I am now abiding by a ‘videos on’ policy. Yep. Magnificent.

I know I would want tell my parent friends the same thing - they’re all doing the very best that they can in the circumstances. I might even make the mistake of telling them that they’re doing great, when really I have no idea at all how they’re doing. Maybe they’re right to be worried about their absence from / performance at work and their kid really is doing badly at home and will be behind their classmates when schools go back. Being told that they’re magnificent probably wouldn’t help much I guess.

So for anyone who feels like they are not doing a “great job” for kid and country - but instead finishes each day feeling like they’ve failed in something important because there is just not enough time or emotional energy to go around - you’re not alone.

What would you have wanted Boris to say instead?

Patronizing and very ill-judged attempt to appease working parents. Utter bollocks (along with most of the words that escape Johnson's mouth). Highlights how little understanding he has of what is actually happening in households across the country. He doesn't give a crap about normal working parents. All his super rich cronies will have kids in private school getting better provision and nannies etc to supervise their children while they work. I'm self-employed as well (since Jan 2020, great timing on my part to rejig my career ) so I have had the double whammy of young kids at home, having to work to pay mortgage but absolutely zero financial support from the gvt throughout this whole mess. Fuck you Boris.

I’d like him to chuck some money at this problem like he has with every other sector

I’d like to see our children being educated in village halls, empty sports halls, libraries, function rooms out the back of the pub.

They seemingly don’t need qualified teachers as us parents are doing a “magnificent job” so why not send out a plea for people with any kind of ability to supervise them to the same low standard as I can in these places.

My 6 year old burnt her hand yesterday while attempting so do some melted crayon art while I was shut away on a long (important) call.

This is not an ok situation we’ve been left in. Again. Almost a year since exactly the same thing happened. Yet no plan, no flex, no adaptations 🤷🏼‍♀️ It’s a joke

France has kept its schools open - that's considered a priority because closing the schools leads to such a massive inequality of education and hits the poorest hardest putting disadvantaged children at an even greater disadvantage. Closing the schools is something that's really hard to recover from - it's simply not possible for everyone to repeat a year. Writing a letter to tell parents they are doing a great job (when let's be honest some of them probably aren't) doesn't really cut it does it?

@UrAWizHarry

We're in this mess because of him and his useless fucking government.

He can shove that letter up his fucking arse.

Would you care to elaborate on this? Is the PM responsible for causing Covid-19? Do you really think Labour would of done better?

I can't feel any rage for this. All my rage is required from my increasingly demanding job and homeschooling "issues" aka the actual children. Magnificent?

Not even going to read it. Literally cannot bear to read or listen to anything that man has to say. Don't suppose he has any tips on how to homeschool whilst 10 miles away at work?

He’s got no idea. None.

The first post said exactly what I wanted to say even without reading his letter.
Thank you @UrAWizHarry

Probably another patronising shit from a man detached from the reality how the nation is doing.

Fuck the peasants, elites are alright (and always will be).

If this goes ahead I will be writing some comments on the letter and sending it right back to 10 Downing st FAO Boris Johnson.

I've been homeschooling for almost an entire year now. I've had my kids at home every single day for an entire year (come the end of February) as a result of covid but I don't feel like I need a thank you for that.

And are you holding down a full time job on top of that?

I seriously hope so, because surely no one, at this stage in the game, would be tone deaf enough to come on a thread like this and lecture to parents who are.

100% what BlowDry said. How anyone can still support the Tories is beyond me. He doesn't give a fuck about anyone but himself and his cronies and he never has. That's what Tories are all about, they see the public as there to serve them, literally; not the other way round.

He doesn't have a clue how 99% of the public live and he doesn't want to. Because he doesn't give a fuck.

Quite lining their pockets by clicking on the Daily Fail.

I’d like
Him to say
Don’t worry too much about homeschooling
They’ll be open in a month or so
Focus on work and paying tax

Just feel guilty all the time

@LillianGish

France has kept its schools open - that's considered a priority because closing the schools leads to such a massive inequality of education and hits the poorest hardest putting disadvantaged children at an even greater disadvantage. Closing the schools is something that's really hard to recover from - it's simply not possible for everyone to repeat a year. Writing a letter to tell parents they are doing a great job (when let's be honest some of them probably aren't) doesn't really cut it does it?

This is Britain, where the caste/class system is revered by the eejits who keep voting for a party that wants to return to a feudal system.

Do you really think Labour would of done better?

Yes, yes on balance I do. And anyway, they couldn't have done worse, and if they had, we would have slagged them for it too.

I think this government have been mesmerisingly bad. I have been since Feb 2020.

None of the parties care about the public. Don't fool yourself any other government would have acted differently. They all only care about themselves and their rich friends.

@Annabell80

None of the parties care about the public. Don't fool yourself any other government would have acted differently. They all only care about themselves and their rich friends.

I don't agree with this, I think the two main parties have failings but clearly work for different interest groups.

The 'rich' do not on the whole donate to the Labour party because the Labour party will not serve their interests.

The green party don't really have rich friends seen as how they want to challenge corporate and property interests.

I think this cynical view of politics is too simplistic.

He won’t even say how many children he has. I cannot even read this letter for fear of what it will do to my blood pressure. The hypocrisy is mind blowing.

I really don't buy into the idea from sine earlier posts that you can only be doing a 'magnificent' job if you've somehow got it all down to a tee.

Those of us who are struggling, juggling and sometimes end a day drained and with no positive thiughts left; we are still magnificent because we're still there and still making the best of what each day throws at us. And whether we manage it well, badly or done bodge up inbetween, we are still,amazing.

And I think that's worth recognition. Whether it's Boris speaking in typical Boris way, or a friendly message in RL or somewhere online.

@Annabell80

None of the parties care about the public. Don't fool yourself any other government would have acted differently. They all only care about themselves and their rich friends.

I don’t see Starmer blaming teachers / teaching unions for closing schools.

Johnson, on the other hand, trots this line out at every PMQs.

Glad there’s a thread on this. It’s a patronising, pat on the head of a letter.
Once again the Tory government demonstrates a dismissive attitude to the ‘ordinary little people’.

Where are the practical proposals?

Where’s the furlough for parents (as other posters have said)?

Where are details of funding and resources that will be made available to schools to enable teachers to have a fighting chance of helping all pupils catch up?

Where are the employment protections for employees (mainly women) being pressured out of paid work?

But all we need is a nice letter from Boris isn’t it?

@FrenchBoule

The first post said exactly what I wanted to say even without reading his letter. Thank you *@UrAWizHarry*

Probably another patronising shit from a man detached from the reality how the nation is doing.

Fuck the peasants, elites are alright (and always will be).

Spot on. No way am I reading anything from Mr Johnson.

And if his letter finds its way to my home, where I am home schooling two kids whilst trying to help my CEV mother and maintain anything like some form of professional credibility in my job whilst my husband tries to do the same, then I shall write instructions on where he can file his letter and send it back to him.

This absolute mess is his fault. If he’d followed the scientific advice when it was given rather than consistently dithering we wouldn’t have the highest death rate in the whole of Europe.

It’s come from a man that has absolutely no experience of raising children. His morality has been “fuck women, produce kids, go find another woman to fuck”. He can go take a running jump of the Empire State Building and get fucked up the arse with a barbed dildo at the same time. I am on my knees with my mental health in tatters trying to home school children at the same time as keeping up with my own work.

Do you really think Labour would of done better? How is this relevant? It's unknowable isn't it? They are very much out of power at the moment due to the Tories massive majority. We can however judge Johnson by his actions - he and his party have been very much and wholly in charge - they own Britain's response to the pandemic. If they want to take credit for rolling out the vaccine programme they must also take credit for their woeful response in every other respect. I do think Labour would have done a better job at targeting its response and support to the poorest - you don't need a history degree to work that out.

@dameofdilemma absolutely right! I've written to my (Tory) MP about how my awful local employer is treating me during this (single parent, working full time, I wont elaborate with the details here but its pretty shocking and my union are now involved). Has my MP replied? Not a thing. They don't give a shit.

"Would you care to elaborate on this? Is the PM responsible for causing Covid-19? Do you really think Labour would of done better?"

It's not exactly a high benchmark to beat, is it?

For instance, I'm pretty sure any kid with a basic knowledge of how excel works could have designed a better T&T system. Or that any idiot could see that eat out to help out was a fucking stupid idea. Or maybe listen to advice about lockdowns. Or..... the list of abject failures goes on, frankly.

Done everything he could? Fuck off.