My son thinks that children were evacuated during the pandemic

[Jourdain11]

Today my DS7 was learning about World War 2 in 'topic' and they covered evacuees. Apparently he stuck his hand up, "Oh, so they were sent away from London to the country to keep them safe? Just like we were in the lockdown?"

The teacher said that, no, children were not evacuated during lockdown. And he was quite incredulous that neither his teacher, nor any of his classmates, could remember this mass evacuation.

I have explained that he was not evacuated - he stayed with his grandparents for around a month (not in the country). But he is sure in his own mind that he was in fact evacuated for the duration. "Maybe for about a year."

I suppose he was only 4 at the time. But it got me to thinking that a lot of youngish children must have some fairly weird memories of Lockdown Britain!

My memories are
•ds loving home schooling- it suited him very well.
•Having lunch in the garden every day with ds, and making obstacle courses for him.
•Queuing outside Asda for hours (it felt like)
•Washing DH’s scrubs on 60 degrees every night when he got home from the hospital.
• Wanting to hose Dh down on the doorstep before he came in 😂

But this too ^ I was obsessed with the numbers. It was frightening watching them skyrocket as it moved across the globe. The situation in Italy was so shocking, and then it came here.

I watched a documentary, maybe Explained on Netflix, about time, or more accurately, how we perceive time. It talked about our brains laying down ‘core memories’ (probably not what they’re actually called) that act as time stamps. We make more of these core memories when we’re younger so it distorts how we remember time periods when we were young. My DS remembers a particular few happy years where we lived in a certain house, except it was only 6 months! False memories are also a thing - they’ve done studies on how people remember major events like 911 and it turns out our memories are not so accurate.

I LOVED lockdown. Not the worry about the virus but just how life slowed down so much and we could just ‘be’. The lack of traffic noise, the bird song never sounded so loud before. The beautiful weather and having time for personal projects. I never wanted it to go back to normal and I naively thought that it would teach us what life is really about.

It's hard seeing them upset still over germs, he still makes a beeline for any of the complimentary hand gels in the shops.

Yes she was born four days before lockdown - she had her one week weigh in on the front door step as we couldn't allow the midwives and the HV inside. I just remember going out on the day of "The Announcement" dh (teacher) had been called into work for an emergency meeting and I was standing in the middle of tesco, my newborn strapped to my chest and my younger two wearing all in ones & masks and just feeling utterly surreal - I felt as if we were in the middle of a end of the world movie set. I cried down the phone to my mum as i couldn't get formula, nappies or tins. It was an incrediblely tough time.

I asked mine who are now nearly 7 and 8 if they remember lockdown and they both say they do but don't remember what we did.
Interesting really because we shielded as a family as one of the children has a transplant. They both didn't go to school for a year.

They have no recollection of it being a bad time at all.

I lived with my grandparents for a whole winter when I was 4. I remember it clearly.

Except, it was actually less than a week because there was a snowstorm and my grandparents lived closer to my school than my mum,so I just stayed with them so I could walk to school instead of having to drive in the snow. The dates can be checked by looking at the weather during that winter.

I was convinced for years that I had been sent away like the kids in the Narnia books or something!

I know a few people (some older, some only in their 60s) who were so terrified by lockdown they still don't like to go out or into other peoples houses

My 13 year old is very germ phonic now and anxious about sickness. He is very funny about people touching food, his plate etc. He washes his hands a lot. He wasn't like that at all before. ☹️

I remember coming back from vacation just before the first lockdown in March 2020. I wasn’t able to visit my husband in long term care. He eventually died and I could only visit at the end. Also remember the daily press conferences with our provincial health minister and provincial health officer. When they stopped I felt deserted.

I remember they announced lockdown the first day of my maternity leave , wishing my daughter to stay put until they decided if partner's could come in with us when we gave birth.
Luckily he was with me when she did arrive. But felt very strange being on that ward not seeing anyone as we had to keep the curtains shut.
Having to sneak to my mum's a couple of weeks later for them to meet their first grand daughter, feeling so guilty as I was breaking the law. 'Accidently ' bumping into them in carparks so they could sneak looks at the baby. It was heartbreaking.

On a brighter note, I remember my first McDonald's when it reopened. The queue was enormous. A mcchicken sandwich never tasted so good

I don’t think it will be forgotten by those Frontline staff who had to work through them.

I had to work full time as a lone parent.. leaving my eldest ds to look after my youngest.. who was 13.. and once finished my shift at work.. go home, hose myself down.. scrubs in at 60oc.. get the dc out for a walk / bike ride so they’d had some outside activity/ fresh air and then do home schooling. I’ll never forget it that’s for sure.

We were talking about lockdown the other day. I do feel sad that it altered my little ones early years experiences so radically. We made the most of it but I wonder what the long term effects will be on their age groups…

Well if he was sent off to stay with his grandparents for a month in a foreign country during lockdown I'm not surprised at all that he likens his experience to evacuation - I can see how it would seem similar to a child.

My DC had just turned 8 at the start of lockdown and became convinced the my DP secretly worked for the government because he works in a job that was key during the pandemic, but definitely not government. He was going to work everyday while we were barely leaving the house.

DC's most vivid memory of that time is us going to the beach and walking through our normally busy seaside town on boiling hot days and it being deserted except for a few other walkers and the coastguard patrolling, DC remembers it as a happy time.

I remember the nightly press conference and the death toll climbing constantly and being scared for what would happen next.

Surreal time in history. It was difficult at times but I am so thankful for all of the quality time I got to spend with my beautiful children.

I don’t think it should have happened the way it did though

We were already in isolation as DD had been a bit warm at school. It was the day before her birthday and I hadn't been shopping. You couldn't get delivery slots so I relied on friends dropping food off.

I'm a childminder and a single parent, so the momentary doom when I had to close my business, followed by 937 different rule changes so we didn't know from one day to the next if we could work. The parents of the children I cared for bombarded me with questions, seemingly believing that the government would have given us advance and more information.

Shortly followed by homeschooling a GCSE child, DS being home schooled and missing the end of primary ... plus homeschooling some mindees. Then trying to work normally for the keyworker toddlers.

I didn't have a conversation with an adult for five months. And even then I had to sit in a park.

It's all a bit mad really.

I remember on the day of the announcement for the first lockdown it was totally silent in the evening, we live withing hearing distance of a main road & there was no traffic, no car doors closing, nobody coming in from the pub.

Are you tone deaf? Ignorant? Or just stupid?
You know a lot of people died. Some of us (a lot) worked our bloody arses off while thinking we were all going to die (and having whole nursing homes die on us). Leaving our children home alone and being so busy and distressed not realising your 13yr old was getting steadily more depressed and suicidal. Trying to squeeze in help with home schooling and forced walks. Almost certainly suffering some degree of PTSD.
Fabulous? No not in the least. How self absorbed can you be?

Oh my goodness, strange times. My son was 4 and so angry. My daughter was 18 months and not sleeping. It was awful, my husband (now ex) was working from home so "busy" I'd do childcare until about 3, plonk them in front of telly then do 4-10 shift nursing in A&E. I just remember stripping off at the door coming home and literally washing myself head to toe with soap. I also Remember the first time we could get in the car and drive somewhere within 5 km (Scotland). The kids were so excited to be in the car! Then how exciting supermarket trips were for the kids after lockdown.

We actually had a lovely time in lockdown. Was about to start maternity leave and had to suddenly work from home just before as they didn't think I should be in the office heavily pregnant. Then had to start the homeschooling! Other half got furloughed so ended up being home til the baby was about 3 months. Weather was glorious so I did a bit of homeschooling in the morning with the eldest and then other half took her out in the afternoons. Lots of bonding with baby. Obviously some negatives as missed out on time with wider family but lots of happy memories.

It wasn't a foreign country, it was Truro!

The mismatch between those who spent months chilling and enjoying doing nothing being paid and those who were clearly traumatised and struggled is staggering to me.
Within a week of lockdown we lost almost a whole care home of patients. They just died. One after the other. Like dominoes. Peoples mothers, fathers, aunts, siblings. People we had cared for for 20 years. We had to decide who was lowest risk to go into the homes. The poor staff did such an amazing job. No PPE no guidelines. The government and PH were 10 steps behind. I have never felt so helpless and distressed. My poor children didn't know what to do. I'm a single parent. I'd run in the door into a hot shower without touching anyone. I'd cry in the shower and then compose myself and go and do some homeschooling and a walk.
I thought there was collective harm and am shocked by how tone deaf some of the comments here are.

I think a lot of little kids from my tiny town will remember learning to ride their bikes on the Station Car park which was completely empty!

I think a month at grandparents is quiet long and during lockdown i can understand child comparing to evacuation.

Funny what goes through their minds. I expect they had a lovely time with grandparents too.