To think no baby groups until 2022 at the earliest?

[MrsCremuel]

I have a toddler and another due in October. I desperately want baby and toddler groups to reopen by the time the new baby come along, but i just don't think it will happen. Feels like it's not a priority on anyone's list and there has been a lot In the media about restrictions lasting into next year to some degree.

YABU - you're being pessimistic
YANBU - you've read the runes right

@Devlesko ODFOD hundreds of years ago the village raised the child. Mothers supported mothers. Peers taught peers because everyone was allowed to socialise. What a stupid comparison.

Baby groups offer much more than development. The chance to talk to someone who will talk back. Having a reason to leave the house. Seeing another human. Learning from other human behaviour. Watching peers of your own age. We are pack animals at heart and not designed to survive in isolation. Everyone that has made comparisons to hundreds of years ago have or the war really don’t get it. Never in history that I can think of have we been told to become solitary creatures and learn to accept it. Quickly.

I hope groups can open in line with schools.

@Same4Walls

Mat leave could be pretty lonely without it and not able to see family and friends. Who knows what will happen though!

I really hope some do reopen for you. As someone whose first child was only a few months old when the first lockdown started I can absolutely confirm it's a very lonely experience.

Same here, DS was 4 months old when we went into lockdown. The crazy expensive, £50 for six session baby sensory etc classes reopened here for a while last autumn which is nice if you have that kind of money to throw around, but the £1 church hall playgroups have disappeared without trace, and I’d been relying on them to make mum friends as we moved to this town last winter. It’s been a very long and lonely 12 months.

It's all speculation. Don't dwell on it. I'm expecting next month and fell pregnant knowing my experience will include Covid restrictions. It's just the way it is. It'll be ok either way.

so sorry to hear that. We made the choice to go try and get pregnant anyway (due to age meaning we were running out of time) knowing there was a risk of this. It must’ve been a lot worse for first time Mums who wouldn’t have expected it at all and been looking forward to doing all of the ‘normal’ things

Thanks lovely. I can see why people don't want to wait especially if age isn't on their side. We managed to go to a few in jan and feb last year but since March nothing has reopened so it's been pretty crummy not having those experiences or being able to turn to more experienced parents for support.

We also have a local soft play, a little family business that I cannot see surviving which breaks my heart as they have been here forever.