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.

What a bizarre thread...

What about the people (like myself) who had to go to hospital appointments and inductions of labour, alone because of restrictions?
What about the people who couldn't visit loved ones in hospital or nursing homes?
What about the people living alone, who had no human contact for months on end?
What about the people that lost their jobs and businesses?
The pandemic has been hard on everyone!

@Cornettoninja I think you have misunderstood my posts. I'm fully aware that mental health issues, poverty & eating disorders etc existed before the pandemic however my point was the pandemic has made it worse. I don't think there are any issues that are solely being blamed on covid with regards to children?

Of course energy was an issue before the war just like our economic woes are tied to 08, Brexit & not just the war/covid.

My other point was challenging the point that children won't be paying for it forever. Yes, pensions & the NHS have been kicked down the road. The pandemic has exacerbated it though hence the global drop in birth rates & in the UK a mass exodus of over 50s workers, not to mention the huge boom in house prices. You can disagree though.

course it has been awful for some children, just as it has been awful for some adults as well, and they were the ones who had to worry about homeschooling, paying the bills etc.

I don't understand the narrative that if a parent who struggled through the pandemic eg worried about finances, loses a job or is stressed juggling homeschooling or covid health implications or bereavement etc somehow their dc are insulated from this?

So what's your problem with the op then? You said it's been hard on everyone, does op have to list every single person in the world - also you didn't mention Ukraine.

Don't be silly. Everyone (bar the PM and his staff) deserve a medal for getting through the pandemic. Nurses and doctors who put their lives on the line, care staff who stayed away from their families for weeks, mothers trying to do the work of teachers and their own jobs from home, teachers trying to control a zoom classroom, shopworkers carrying on supplying us with food despite the risks to their own health and, not least, families who lost loved ones.

Agree with all who say that YABVU for a number of reasons.

Money would be better spent on ensuring that ALL children are educated in this country pandemic or not. Did you know that there is a significant number of children that there is no suitable school for in this country? Many of them autistic, These children, I have two of them, have been on a quasi lockdown for years with no peer group because of education and sen funding cuts and lack of appropriate schools.

I'm not trying to say that lockdown wasn't hard for children but I really don't think that some people realise how awful the situation is for some children with SEN in this country and a period of online learning and enforced home education is a drop in the ocean compared with what many children in this country have to cope with.

Mental health and other support services also need to improve.

@druto

You can disagree though

thanks

I do to some extent, but because this thread specifically is about the effects of the pandemic on children which (imho) blurs lines and conflates issues. There are unique issues whose causes are attributable to the pandemic and perhaps in some cases are based on pre-existing foundations.

All are undeniably issues, but I believe it does a disservice to each subset of problems to imply their roots are in an event that took place after they were previously recognised. Issues specifically arising from the pandemic have an implication they can be resolved as the pandemic subsides and allows previous standards to resume which I don’t agree with. These are problems that will continue to exist and are vulnerable to other exacerbations, ones we don’t know will happen yet.

Basically anyone who had the option to walk away and didn’t. I don’t think children fall into that category - this happened to them.

I find it vaguely insulting to suggest they should receive accolades and thanks for a situation they had no/few personal choices in.

Why only children and young people? What about the women who were pregnant during the first lockdown, before vaccines were available, who had to go to all medical appointments alone, weren't allowed a partner to stay after birth. No visitors once baby born apart from on the doorstep. Do you know how lonely that was? What about those who were elderly or lived alone and weren't allowed to mix households (before bubbles) so were alone for months. Everyone had their own difficult times and "deserve a medal" for different reasons

I think that people are saying there'll be permanent mental health effects for children as a result of the pandemic is extremely worrying. Poor family backgrounds and bad family situations aside (as of course those children have had more to deal with), children should be taught coping mechanisms and resilience, and I actually think most did learn a lot of resilience over the past few years. It was a shit 2 years but if it is leaving the average child with an "average family" with permanent mental health issues then how will they ever deal with anything outside of the norm. Change (for better or worse) happens all the time, it cannot be escaped! We have to get on with it!

😂😂😂 wtf

There’s nothing to be gained from token gestures unless they’re backed up with societal changes. What use was clapping if the NHS continues to be underfunded? What use is a medal if the needs of schools and childrens mental health services continue to be ignored?

If we’re giving money to a specific group of people for trauma then it should be invested in the services that treat trauma, allowing those that have suffered most to receive prompt, good treatment.

I speak as someone with diagnosed trauma, who lived on their own for 2 years, saw nobody for vast stretches of that time, and was constantly being told how tough it is for families. I’m now paying a ridiculous amount of money for my own therapy. I don’t have any left to pay to the government for a nonsense medal scheme.

I think that people are saying there'll be permanent mental health effects for children as a result of the pandemic is extremely worrying

Does that mean you think there won't be permanent mental health effects for some children? Because I thinks it's, at best, naive to think that there won't. Yes, many children can be taught resilience. But for some (although certainly a minority) the lockdown was a disaster in terms of mental health. My teenage niece suffered with her mental health terribly, still hasn't gone back to school, hardly comes out of her room, doesn't engage with anyone, stays up all night, sleeps all day, has talked about suicide. Her parents have tried everything they can think of, but are at the end of their tether. Access to mental health services is extremely difficult, due to the high demand. They've tried the GP, CAMHS, private councillors, private pschyciatrists, but waiting lists are extremely long, even if they can get on the waiting list on the first place.

My own daughter, although not as badly, has also suffered mental health problems, and is waiting for counselling.

So I actually find it quite offensive for anyone to say We have to get on with it!. Some children (and, of course, adults) can't.

I work in a hospital and all our children received a certificate and letter of thanks from our ceo. I’ve recognised how amazing my dc are and all they’ve been through and so have their schools. I’m not sure what a government medal for all children will achieve - it’s meaningless and the money could be better spent imo.

@rainbowmilk obviously some children will suffer, and have suffered. As would be the case if the pandemic never happened. I think constantly telling children "oh your mental health has suffered" is not a narrative our children need to hear. And they do pick up on that! They will start to believe that and then the little resources that are available won't be going to the children who actually need it like your niece and daughter. Hope they both get the resources they need! 💕

This. The impact for some children and teenagers has been horrendous. The struggle to access any sort of professional support for a child's emotional wellbeing is unbelievable in my area. I can't obviously share details, but I believe the general population would be very shocked to read referrals I have made, which haven't met thresholds. I can sit on the phone all day, whilst typing, and never get through to even make a referral. Some of my referrals by form, don't even get an acknowledgement to say unsuccessful. Those which are accepted, wait a minimum of a year to be seen. I am aware of some who are still waiting after 2 years. I also work with adults - never had a referral rejected, and waiting times are much shorter in my area - at least for triage and a plan of support. Social anxiety is a huge problem, for many children whose families did follow the rules, but many children suffered from the increased time spent in abusive, neglectful and violent households too. Yes I do know many adults have suffered horrendously too.

obviously some children will suffer, and have suffered. As would be the case if the pandemic never happened

But it did happen, and so many children's mental health, who perhaps were coping before, has become much worse. The demands on mental health services has skyrocketed, and not because parents have told children that their mental health has suffered, but because, for some, it actually has.

Snowflakes. Dunno what they're moaning about when there's people in Russia dying in the war.

This thread reminds me of a work colleague who wrote to her MP asking for parents to all be given a one off payment from the government because they were the unsung heroes of COVID.

When pressed as to why parents were the heroes (or unsung, even, given that all anyone seemed to talk about was the effect on families), she just kept saying that parents suffered most and got no credit for their contribution to the nation. She also couldn’t explain why a cash payment would help redress that.

Hope she doesn’t see this thread and get ideas!

That’s bonkers @rainbowmilk. Raising your children during a disaster is just part of the job description surely?

it’s not remotely comparable to something like unpaid carers who (in theory) have the option to relinquish care to the state who would have to provide specialist care.

Agree @Cornettoninja. Appreciate that home schooling must’ve been awful (though my employer was very good about giving parents paid time off for it every week) but doing that was for the benefit of the child and part and parcel of being a parent. Why it deserved a cash sum and recognition from the state as a contribution to the nation was beyond me.

Just clap for them. It worked for the NHS.

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

What recognition do you want?

This is a joke and so typical of the weak snowflake mentality and self aggrandisement and self entitlement that so many people have these days.

When my grandfathers were 18 they were risking their lives in WW2.

One of them was a Lancaster bomber pilot. On his 19th birthday he was being chased by German fighters over Berlin.

My other grandfather at 18 was on destroyers. He was on a ship that was torpedoed and sunk he survived after being picked up by a nearby ship.

Your mollycoddled little darlings had to stay indoors and watch TV for a few while. Yea give them the Victoria Cross, a knighthood and the freedom of the city.

You think that deserved recognition. That is exactly the give every one a medal and a pat on the back for everything they do that has made a generation of people self absorbed narcissistic and unable to cope with any real problems that everyone has to face and go into meltdown.

I honestly thought you'd sober up and then come back tail-between-legs, OP, not "RAGING" that most people disagree with your angle.

Quite bizarre.