She doesn’t want to touch the ball-y’know, because of covid

[Thecarobsarefalling]

We were at the beach last night with toddler Dd, she was happily running around the beach and fairly nearby was a family with two girls, maybe 8/9 years old.
Dd ran near to them (does this fairly frequently) to say hello/wanting to play. The older girl looked almost scared and backed away and said ‘I can’t’ we called Dd away as it felt like an awkward situation. The mum then cheerfully called to me that she probably didn’t want to touch the beach ball, because of covid. She then told her daughter she’d done the right thing. They left, saying a cheery goodbye and for us to enjoy our evening.
Aibu just to find this so very sad.

@Bryonyshcmyony

It's a bit stupid - surely the chance of catching Covid from a ball is almost non existent? If they were CEV then why on a (busy?) beach?

DH is CEV but chooses to carry on as normal because his cancer is terminal and he's not going to get any better. He looks well but we know he is living with a ticking timebomb inside him. He wouldn't react in the way this family did but just because he is CEV doesn't mean he should spend his last months living in a bubble and not accessing the every day joys of life.

I wasn't there, but yes, I would have thought it was OTT

Very sad and completely over the top. However, none of us know their circumstances and they were at least polite about it.

It's sad. This is one of the reasons I'm nervous about taking my DD to the park or play groups these days - she often runs up people and tries to touch their stuff and I'm worried they'll get annoyed,

Its their choice I suppose. My fear is that ruining a childhood with this germaphobia is way worse than an illness that is no worse than a cold in children. There may be vulnerable family members, but seeing young families running around outdoors where the kids are dressed up like they're in some kind of bio secure lab is just tragic and so disproportionate.

www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/13/us/dallas-county-no-pediatric-icu-beds-left/index.html

Some US states seeing Paediatric ICU s filling up. God knows where we ll be in September when schools open. Letting it rip mentality among children will harm some children. But ya! Let’s judge the parents who try to keep their kids safe!

How about you don't judge and accept that some of us (a lot of us, in fact) still want to be on the safe side?

I'm just so fucking pissed off that anyone who dares to show a shred of caution is mocked and laughed at.

@Thecarobsarefalling

Gosh, I found it so sad. It was strange to me that she was told to not touch a ball and yet had gone on holiday abroad, sat on a beach in August with people all around them, presumable visited the packed restaurants and shops, stayed in a hotel or villa I imagined, been on a plane and through an airport..but too scared to touch a ball and play with a toddler. Dd not bothered at all, she was soon playing with another set of children. These are anxious times, I just felt sad for the girl and found it a very sad situation.

Drip feed or what!!!

Your op didn’t mention abroad at all! We’ve been seeking out quiet uk beaches to get away from crowds recently.

It is sad. But no point in feeling upset. Some folk are terrified of Covid. I'm scared of Cancer but I cant get worked up over Covid. Its a personal thing and not always logical.

It feels very much like the surface transmission theory was so heavily pushed at the start of the pandemic (and continually pushed since then to be fair) that people can't get their heads around the fact that the actual risk of surface transmission is pretty low. (And I include myself in that, I still find myself shouldering open a door).

Aren't there studies suggesting that the risk of surface transmission leading to infection is about 1 in 10,000 if the surface is contaminated?

Unless they are medically vulnerable, it's sad that the kid's are so afraid of normal human interaction.

‘Sad’? Goodness.

Everyone’s muddling their way through this at their own rates. Don’t impose your own risk perception and Covid confidence on others.

I learnt this after my sister was not sure whether to use an inside toilet, I just said breezily ‘just put on a mask, it’s fine’. It was the wrong response, she was not fine, and I should have been sensitive to that.

I’m wondering if it’s the girl’s personal anxiety rather than family anxiety? So the child is anxious, mum (and dad) trying to make it less of a big deal and this is how they handle it. My son who has ASD has been very anxious about COVID and previously shouted at strangers to keep away from him. Not in a rude way but a panicked way. It took a lot to get him to feel calmer. He’s only really calmed down since all adults he knows have been vaccinated. His stepdad has a condition that makes him more vulnerable and while we haven’t talked about it to him (yet) he probably picked up on that even though we’re not outwardly panicky people.

I do feel sad for the little girl for feeling so afraid but it’s not necessarily coming from over anxious parents, certainly not a negative place.

I mean, the mum said it was COVID but maybe she was being polite….

It’s the world we live it. Children aren’t vaccinated and looking at how it spread through my youngests school with positive tests I’m cautious too. Mine plays in the park with the children from his bubble etc but he is karats putting his hands in his mouth. He was a huge thumb sucker and we managed to stop that a few years ago (2) but he would do it all day pretty much and he was at school we broke the habit just before the First lockdown but he will suck his fingers. I tend not to take them to the supermarket etc we don’t know the long term effects of children with Covid but there is some evidence that it will be more then we know.

In China if they have a positive case they lock down that area immediately - full lockdown in houses full sometimes the whole postcode sometimes the entire town and that is still happening - doesn’t that tell you anything?

Yes of course you can catch it off items, such as ball it’s just a lower risk and each family chooses its risk.

@NannyAndJohn

How about you don't judge and accept that some of us (a lot of us, in fact) still want to be on the safe side?

I'm just so fucking pissed off that anyone who dares to show a shred of caution is mocked and laughed at.

Thankfully the OP neither mocked nor laughed at this child. She said it was sad.

@Megan2018

It’s not sad, it’s sensible. Your toddler is hardly going to be scarred for life. The family were friendly, what more do you want in a pandemic?

Agree it’s not sad but sensible. If mine were younger and ineligible for the vaccine I’d want to keep them safe so wouldn’t encourage play with children I didn’t know or sharing their things. Covid can still be caught outdoors, lower risk than inside but not risk free.

@Neverrains Thank you, I didn’t mock or laugh at all, I found the situation sad @NannyAndJohn

Kids have lived with all these covid restrictions at school for over a year, it’s not something they can just turn on and off. Things will slowly settle down. Although toddlers are very enthusiastic about playing with older children, it’s often not reciprocated. And some toddler parents don’t like other people just joining in so the freezing was not necessarily covid related anyway!

I appreciate covid has been a difficult time, but all this 'keeping kids safe' stuff is just so disproportionate. Look at the numbers. If it weren't for the fact it can be more serious for older people we'd be having covid parties like we do for chicken pox.

They were polite, what more do you want? It is understandable as here, in sport, spectators have been given the ridiculous advice of avoiding any balls that end up in the crowd. Players are not allowed to continue play with a ball that has gone into the crowd and been tossed back which has always been the case. I can understand why the girl reacted this way.

@RhodesianRidgeback

Yes it’s sad that there’s a serious pandemic and people have to be so scared of contamination. It’s sad for all of the children who’ve had ordinary social development disrupted. I’m not sure if that’s the point you were trying to make.

+1. And some children will have taken it more to heart than others. I read elsewhere about a child who begged her family not to go on holidays this year. The mother had covid, last year, and was very ill.

All of this has been very hard on children, imo. It's something that none of us never experienced before, and they are trying to deal with it at a much younger age than us adults. It will take time to shake off the various behaviours that we had to adopt during the pandemic and the lockdowns.

@HoppingPavlova Jesus, I don’t want anything else, I said it was sad, it shocked me a little.

@BeardyButton they chances of getting COVID from a surface are less than 1 in 10,000 - less than 0.01%.

The likelihood of a child who contracts COVID of being admitted to hospital is 0.00025%. It’s completely irrational for children to be scared by touching a ball.