To say that every child and young person…

[KnowButNeedU2TellMeAsItIs]

That got through the pandemic, followed the rules, stayed indoors for long periods of time, endured isolation, online learning, ping pongs in and out of school, slow vaccination roll-out…

Should get a medal.

Our kids are amazing and gone through so much but not one bit of recognition.

And tbh, the pandemic is not the worst crisis to go through. I was locked down in my home country- no such thing as furlough, you lost your job overnight, schooling stopped completely, until very recently children were still going to school on alternate days in bubbles, no state help at all. When I hear people whinge here about how hard it was for them or that their kids couldn't attend parties or socialise, I just think they live in such a clueless bubble.

As a teacher, I have asked many hundreds of children about their experiences of lockdown.

some suffered. Many did not. Many thrived. Many improved their mental health and their educational achievements.

please don’t assume it was a bad experience all round. For many children normal school is far worse

I know children who had a ball over lockdown playing with their ponies on the family farm.

I know children whose educational experiences were vastly improved by being the children of keyworkers.

I know teenagers who greatly enjoyed being locked down and having a lot more access to online gaming.

I also know children who found lockdown very difficult.

One of my children has suffered a great deal as a result of the impact on the NHS and I know lots have suffered far worse DV due to being isolated at home.

Like all other groups, children have had a variety of experiences. I'm not sure why they should be singled out for special recognition.

It's more than our politicians in government have done and they still seem to want a medal for ... I don't know. I can't even think of a tiny little shitty thing they've done somewhat right.

My children have received a lot of recognition, by me and their dad. As their parents that is part of our job. A medal from who and why???

Still so glad we were not in the UK with lockdowns. Seems like we ended up the same anyway, just that our children went to school all through.

Lots of children thrived during lockdown and preferred being at home.

What a load of bullshit.

We all deserve a medal in our different ways why are kids so special.

I say this as a mother of two one of which has truly suffered with MH issues as a result of the last two years.

I think they deserve a medal simply because they got on with it, didn’t moan and knew that they were protecting other people.

On the contrary most of the 30+ did nothing but moan constantly, say we need to get back to normal, try and break the rules etc etc.

The pandemic was utterly shite for so many people.

BUT the thing that distinguished children's and young adult's experiences is that lockdowns etc interrupted developmental stages.

Schools, FE and HE are trying to pick up the pieces now and I agree with the poster who said that properly funded education, public services and health care would be considerably more useful than a medal.

I treated Covid patients in icu and I lived in a hotel away from my family for three months do I also get a medal?

Im not saying it wasn't rubbish for them, but I think it was an awful lot harder for those losing jobs with the responsibility of those kids to provide for, and all of the other adults who kept the country running for them.

A wonderful side effect of not having reached maturity is not fully understanding how bad things are in the world.

This generation has been incredible and whether we agree about a medal or not have we really recognised what a sacrifice that our young people made - much of it because of the older generation. How have we recognised this?

Bit tricky to meet up with cousins in another country. Many people don't have them convienently down the road.

I couldn't knit up a convenient bubble either. Most people around here "bubbled up" with local family and that left my then 7 year old with a cumulative 8 months of no access to actually play with another child of his own age while hearing half his class playing in the school fields from his garden. Part of that was legal rules, part of that was people being too terrified to even actually meet up legally and interact in any kind of useful way.

It was time to jump the playground fences this time two years ago when he was displaying depressed behaviour. He stopped playing because he had no fresh social interactions, however I couldn't solve the fact that no one other than his two parents cared enough to let him meet other children though.

When he finally went back to school after 5.5 months, he'd lost his friends who were allowed back to school in the summer term who socially moved on without hin. We were begining to get over that in the autumn when we ended up with another 2+ month ban from school and peer interactions.

The rules were fucking cruel to children and ignored their social development needs.

What I've seen in my youth groups is not necessarily "damaged" children in any obvious way, but a cohort-wide loss of experience and confidence. They're generally slower to pick up skills because they often missed out on over a year of normal experiences. They struggle with group dynamics and general instructions. They spent 15 months either prohibited from seeing children or having to distance and be in bubbles and it's taking a long time to undo that unnatural programming and re-establish "normal" group behaviour for their age.

My other DS with ASD was happy enough without the company of peers... it doesn't mean that was socially healthy for him though.

"Bubbles" were only useful if there was someone conveniently located and avaliable to bubble with you.

Nope. My kids bloody loved lockdown, they don't need a medal, no school and loads of time in the garden with mum and dad was reward enough for them.

I'm incredibly grateful they felt way (DC1 anyway, DC2 was very young).

Surely the recognition should come from the parents

Why not from the state as well - wouldn’t that mean something?

What a 'Yay well done for getting through what everyone else got through too', so basically the ultimate meaningless participation medal. No I don't think it would mean anything at all

It has been recognised. There are endless reports, articles, threads on here about it. But it happened - like other events in other generations.
My daughter did fine - didn't mind lockdown and still did well in her GCSEs. My son did not. His college career was pretty much a joke - no work experience (it was a vocational course that really needed in work placement), no making new friends, no work contacts made, no access to the only thing that might have kept him occupied (the gym). He is still struggling.
But does he deserve a medal? No. He suffered. But that is what life is about. There are obstacles in lots of different circumstances. Many adults suffered too, and in much more material ways.

Mean something coming from Boris Partygate Johnson?

I hate this idea - that they sacrificed themselves to keep the undeserving old alive - which is the way this comes across. It was a completely unforeseen and unprecedented situation which noone knew best how to manage. My dd turned 16 the week of lockdown so inevitably it had a HUGE impact on a key life stage. But life went back to normal and yes, it's caused some issues for some, and kids have lost family members etc, but they didn't sacrifice themselves ffs.

Well some young people or their families didn’t follow the rules but absolutely needed not to for their health. It would be the same as how attendance awards affects children that have multiple health issues or SEN, they aren’t bad kids because they don’t go to school 1000% the time but not giving an award often makes them feel that way. Those kids and young people that had to socialise to protect their mental health will be excluded from the recognition, when presumably the fact that they needed to break the rules to socialise would indicate they actually suffered tremendously.

But.... Why?

indoors for long periods of time, endured isolation

A poxy medal for permanently ruined mental health?

That's the problem, isn't it?

The boy I know who suffered worst has no dad around. And mum is abusive. He struggled before all this. Now, because she basically flipped his day and night and they had no schedule and no education, he will never recover the lost ground. It's kids like him who I feel for.