has anyone else found that GCSEs going ahead has made them sad for all their teenagers have missed

[notonepotism]

I should preface this by saying I don't begrudge the current year 11s having a normal experience at all and am thrilled life is back to normal now. However, my DD is now in year 12 and doing her A levels and when I think back to how utterly shit her year 11 was with no prom, exams cancelled, in and out with isolation, the bubble system, ect it makes me so upset all they have missed. In general for everyone but especcily for teenagers it makes me so upset the parties, fun, jobs, learning, relationships, friendships and everything else they will have missed out on. I have seen a few friends who have DC in year 11 and talking about their exams and it has just upset me a bit. I know we can't change the past and the restrictions helped us controll the virus but seeing the ammount DD and many other teenagers and young people have missed out on has made me so sad. Not really an AIBU but posting to ask if anyone else feels like this?

ds(18) seems to have wiped it all from his memory, including the impact on his studying, exams this year and the previous two years of uncertainty around each of his exams/assessments (3 years of exams!), and he is getting on with enjoying life and taking steps to experience what most kids do between 16-18 but was postponed during the pandemic - getting a PT job, seeing friends more, getting out more/further a field, having a girlfriend and driving. His cohort is all in the same boat so still experiencing all this together.

We suffered a close family covid bereavement in such horrific circumstances and have been impacted significantly financially when self employed dh couldn't work for a long time, so I am pleased ds is treating it for what it was, a horrible horrible blip in life, that we have to deal with and has now mostly passed (touches wood).

He has learned a lot during the pandemic, how to deal with change and uncertainty that is out of your control, how to be more independent and organised with online learning, how to focus on the positives and what you can change, how to fill your time when the beloved playstation actually gets boring!!!

There are groups of people I strongly felt for during the pandemic, those in poverty, those with SEN or caring responsibilities, those who have serious health conditions and their treatment impacted, those who had to work in public facing or key roles in the beginning when we didn't know the risk or what we were dealing with to name just a few. Your average teenager needing to step up and show a bit of resilience was quite low on my list.

My y12 dd was absolutely delighted to miss her GCSEs, much preferred distance learning, liked being in 'bubbles' at school and wasn't particularly fussed about prom! My only real concern is that A Level exams are going to come as a big shock to her!