To be shocked at parents allowing teenage rule breaking

[chocolateforeverymeal]

We have been really diligent with the covid rules. I assumed the people I respect enough to be good friends with were doing the same.

Seems not. We all have teens. Mine is desperate to have friends round, and has done so in the garden. Turns out teenagers with boyfriends, in particular, but others too, can't be expected to follow rules. Some really good friends, at least three different families, have been allowing indoors visits for teens for weeks.

Really pisses me off-as if it's easy for the mugs who follow rules but they are exceptions. And these are people who are quite sniffy about other people's standards at times.

Both my girls have been so unhappy, the whole bloody family would have been driven insane if there had not been some leeway. Youngest has seen best friend, eldest boyfriend right thru.

We have all had Covid, full isolation when necessary, all survived. No regrets whatsoever!

@wasthataburp

Genuinely feel sorry for your teens

OP left thread yonks ago, not enough people were suitably shocked that not all teenagers had been locked in their rooms for 16 months.

Yes, it was very clear that schools were the key driver of transmission in the autumn.

Research by Warwick University says schools are not playing a significant role in covid transmission.

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/newresearchhfindsnooevidencethattschoolsareeplayingaasignificantroleeindrivinggspreadoffthecovid-199virusinnthe_community1

It doesn't matter, but I didn't leave the thread. It was clear that most people disagree with me, which is fine. For what it's worth, my teen hasn't been shut in her room, just doing outside meet ups with friends. I was feeling relieved that she could finally be inside with friends, expressed this to a couple of good friends, who were very surprised we hadn't been allowing this all along. I felt very weird about it-having assumed that those were the rules and we had to get on with it. A mixture of wondering if they were very unusual, cross with myself, all sorts. Anyway, it's all water under the bridge. I agree with lots of the comments on here, especially those whose kids are seriously struggling-there have to be exceptions. I can't say I agree with the "they are together all day, what's the difference?" reasoning. None of the friends' kids I know are actually at the school their boyfriend/girlfriend attends.

But anyway, I have found out what the majority think, which is usually the point of an AIBU thread. So thank you.

@TabbyStar

Yes, it was very clear that schools were the key driver of transmission in the autumn.

Research by Warwick University says schools are not playing a significant role in covid transmission.

[[https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/new]]researchhfindsnooevidencethattschoolsareeplayingaasignificantroleeindrivinggspreadoffthecovid-199virusinnthe_community1

That link doesn't work and the title seems to be that schools *are' playing a significant role in community transmission.

They certainly were in the autumn when, according to the ONS, secondary school aged children were the most infected subset of the population, followed by primary school aged children.

Based on their random sampling, so picking up asymptomatic cases.

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/newresearchhfindsnooevidencethattschoolsareeplayingaasignificantroleeindrivinggspreadoffthecovid-199virusinnthe_community1/

Don't know what happened to the link, but here is part of report:

"New research finds no evidence that schools are playing a significant role in driving spread of the Covid-19 virus in the community

"New research led by epidemiologists at the University of Warwick has found that there is no significant evidence that schools are playing a significant role in driving the spread of the Covid-19 disease in the community, particularly in primary schools. However, careful continued monitoring may be required as schools re-open to stay well informed about the effect they have upon community incidence.

“Our analysis of recorded school absences as a result of infection with COVID-19 suggest that the risk is much lower in primary than secondary schools and we do not find evidence to suggest that school attendance is a significant driver of outbreaks in the community”

Which isn't born out at all by by the ONS random sampling data, which showed very clearly that secondary school pupils were the most infected subset of the population, with primary school pupils very close behind, especially by December when the new variant was spreading.

Unless there's a special variant that only infects children and not the adults that spend all day in the classroom with them, or the adults that they encounter in the community, of course schools were driving the transmission of the virus.

A quick Google confirms that the Warwick researchers are part of SAGE, who presumably have been given a directive to confirm the line that the govt were pushing all autumn ie that the high rate of covid cases in school was nothing to do with the rising rates of infection in the community.