Anyone else planning to unleash their teenagers soon

[WilliamMorrisdancer]

DD(15) went for a walk with a friend on Saturday afternoon. They "bumped" into a couple of friends, got some chips and hung around together til Dusk.

It did her the world of good. I'm going to let her do the same this Friday and Saturday (but not chips both nights!).

Anyone else unleashing their teens?

No, he will be going to school, and coming home

No, following the rules as should everyone if we want out of this mess. If rates start to rise they will slow the reopening!

@AlexaShutUp

Erm, my 15yo dd doesn't need to be "unleashed". She has been quite capable of following the government guidance of her own accord, and I'm sure she will continue to do so.

She is really looking forward to seeing her friends in school again though.

Same here with mine

one of mine 'bumped in' to twins the other day outside obv. so they were 3 and breaking rules. otherwise its just been 1 on 1 for the occasional bike ride or walk.

i wont be letting them (dd12 and ds14) go inside others houses though, no.
its really not that long till they are allowed.

@bluebluezoo

Do it. Vaccinated older people are now meeting (I have no issue with this) and still pose a higher risk than younger people to overwhelming the NHS so I don’t see the difference

Vaccinated people should not be meeting, they should still be complying with lockdown.

Vaccination is not a free pass to do ignore the guidance.

I know they shouldn’t be. But the ONS data suggests they are (>50% of them). So if they are why can’t young people? It doesn’t seem fair.

If rates start to rise...

Apparently they are on some areas.

No.

I can't work out whether dd is allowed to walk to school in a group of 3 when she goes back. Or around school.
And how can it be alright to walk around school with 2 friends but not alright to go for a walk with the same two friends later in the day?

One of mine met 2 friends instead of 1. Then last weekend she went so far as to sit on a bench with a friend. Picnic table next to them was packed with about 6 middle aged adults! I've reached a point where I can't get too worked up about them hanging out outside (middle aged or teen)

We have vigorous Covid officers here no sitting on park benches for us!

DS has been home from Uni since the start of December. I bought him some new shoes for Christmas. He's been out today to get a Covid test before returning to his Uni city at the weekend. As he took his shoes off the shoe rack we realised that the paper packaging was still stuffed inside them! The only time he's been out in the last 3 months has been to go walking wearing walking boots. If he chooses to meet up with his mates when he gets back to Uni then so be it. Cases are extremely low in his Uni city.

@AlexaShutUp

Erm, my 15yo dd doesn't need to be "unleashed". She has been quite capable of following the government guidance of her own accord, and I'm sure she will continue to do so.

She is really looking forward to seeing her friends in school again though.

Ditto!!

Both my teenagers have stuck to the guidelines. They know a bag of chips with friends and hanging around a street corner is rather silly in a pandemic.

The idea that this has "gone on long enough" is nonsensical. All you are doing is making it last even longer 🤷🏻‍♀️ Is there really a time scale on not wanting people to die versus chips?

But it’s illegal?

Yep. We live in an area of very low rates (21 per 100,000 at the moment but have never had very high rates) so I’m letting the kids meet up with friends outside. The risk of them meeting someone with covid AND it being transmitted outside are stupidly low so I’m happy with that. It’s good for their physical and mental health to be out and I don’t consider those odds to be worthy of locking them away from their friends.

Mine's been seeing her boyfriend and sometimes she gets a lift home from work with her friends when I can't pick her up (she's 17). I don't think her mental health nor her relationship would have survived otherwise. Lots of the older teens in our social group are meeting up and there's been no spread of covid since some of them had it in September. Lots of them are also out at work either retail or apprenticeships.

@SoupDragon

If rates start to rise...

Apparently they are on some areas.

Well if they are rising despite schools being shut since Xmas and most of us in "lockdown" it suggests restrictions aren't working so it's time to unleash our kids.

Did it in December and Jan and Feb. They went sledging, got chips and ate them in the park. 🍟
One day per month no apologies.

Restrictions aren't working because people aren't following them. There are plenty of "unleashed" teenagers around here already, and plenty of middle aged/older people breaking the rules too.

Let's just hope that all of the "unleashing" doesn't take us back into another lockdown, eh?

AlexaShutUp - eating a bag of chips with a few mates outside, isn't going to kill anyone. You're catastrophising.

No. But this is MN feral teens aren't allowed to hang about on street corners. EVER.

Or perhaps they are rising because people are 'unleashing their kids'

No, I'm not catastrophising. I just think you're being irresponsible.

I know they shouldn’t be. But the ONS data suggests they are (>50% of them). So if they are why can’t young people? It doesn’t seem fair.

Two wrongs have never made a right and life isn't fair.

I encourage my 16 year old to do this but he's become a bit of a hermit and so has his friends it seems. I hope going back to school will make him see the value in social interactions again.

My youngest dd is out now. With her friend, they both go to school together and have gone every day throughout this lockdown with no social distancing there but today is testing day at school so they're off. They've had negative tests this morning and now gone out for a long walk.