To think that everyone who told those with preschool children in 2020/21 to get a puddlesuit and that lockdown wasn’t that bad needs to read this

[manysummersago]

BBC link

Reading the above has made me feel so angry and sad at what was done to the babies and toddlers of this country, and I can’t believe that we let it happen, quite honestly.

@Nidan2Sandan

I knew it was being cruel to children when outdoors play parks were shut and people on MN were referring to children as disease vectors and not considering the impact..

DH and I were in jobs directly affected by covid, I work in DV and child safeguarding and DH in the police. I was online working by 7am, continuously till 9PM or 10pm during that first lockdown.

I was dealing with horrific cases (that I have gone into on here before, so wont again) so you'll excuse me if we didnt have the time to do singing and school issued Twinkle sheets whilst we worked our butts off protecting other families.

My kids did eventually end up back at school when they allowed key worker children back, but due to various issues this wasnt until June 2020.

Lockdown one I can almost agree with, but we one very early on what the effects of covid were on people and children. By May 2020 we had a pretty decent understanding of the effects. The subsequent lockdowns were an abomination and should never have been allowed. The nonsense tier system, ditto!!

And now we're in a cost of living crisis, needing to recoup funds and our childrens children will be paying the cost of furlough. So yes, we absolutely failed the children and putting a 98yo needs before a toddler was and always will be despicable.

Lockdown saved the lives of many young people and children of colour. It was needed, especially when the Delta variant was the dominent cause of disease. I lost 6 members of my family to it - the oldest two were 70-72 but the rest were all under 30.

Porcupineintherough Blackburn was subject to much longer and harsher restrictions. I’m not far away but what I could do versus there was very different for large part of the time. It’s a double whammy as these are areas of deprivation, where children were already behind compared to national average and they’ve now got covid impacting them more than affluent areas on top.

The fact that report mentions children not hearing stories or singing? That's a parenting issue, not a lockdown one!

This is and always has been a problem in non-working households. Lockdown made it worse. I said it before and I said it again but kids who were already known by social services (for any reason) should have been taken into care / monitored daily during Lockdown rather than being allowed to disappear.

No teachers in the state system were furloughed.
None of the teachers I know were living it up in their gardens. We were in trying to look after our key worker kids whilst also trying to help those stuck at home. We were also making and delivering food parcels and doing welfare checks on our vulnerable kids since social services weren’t doing it. It was an impossible situation. The fact that swaying palm trees will never forgive me bothers me not a jot. I’ll continue to try and do my best for the children in my care. I know that they’re starting to catch up and that we are doing lots of extra work on mental health and speech and language. Haters gonna hate I suppose.

@Dixiechickonhols

Porcupineintherough Blackburn was subject to much longer and harsher restrictions. I’m not far away but what I could do versus there was very different for large part of the time. It’s a double whammy as these are areas of deprivation, where children were already behind compared to national average and they’ve now got covid impacting them more than affluent areas on top.

Yes but the extended family set up and the importance of potty training for religious purposes means preschoolers from Muslim / Sikh / Hindu backgrounds were not as affected socially. Even when they lost family members due to Covid.

Can I ask again how do people think schools would have remained open when some aren't able to be fully open at the moment, and this is with many people vaccinated?

Many parents were taking their children out of school before schools were closed.

Many parents had the opportunity to put their children into school during lockdown, I know of teachers who were desperately trying to persuade parents of vulnerable children to let their children come into school. If those children have suffered academically and socially during lockdown that is partly down to those parents. And if children were physically harmed during lockdown that is down to the people who harmed them.

The scandal in this country is that there are so many children who have lives that means the hours that they are in school are the only times they have normal, safe lives. But you only see posters going on about this in respect of when schools were closed, what about all the other years when schools are open, why weren't you on here saying how awful it is, why weren't you on here saying we are watching you, to the crap parents. What aren't you saying I will never forget and forgive in respect of those parents, who make their child's lives a misery on a daily basis. Lockdown or no lockdown

@BeforeGodAndAllTheFish

Everything in that article is just bad, lazy parenting. Nothing to do with lockdown. Everything to do with bad, lazy parents not doing what they should have.

My children thrived during lockdown. They returned to school way ahead of where they should have been. Because I actually made an effort.

And were you working full time and entertaining preschool children too?

I can bet some children did benefit from parents who were furloughed I kept getting told what lovely time my SIL and BIL were having, just like a great big holiday one would take the preschooler out while the other did school work with the P1 - how nice.

DH was working hideous hours, sorting out claims and stuff, I was on my knees dealing with my job and the kids.

Brutal - I know the LO was neglected but I don't know what else we could do.

@Porcupineintherough I didn’t use the words ‘six months straight.’ I said six months. I counted that as April - June 2020 and January - March 2021.

Teachers being furloughed or not really wasn’t the main point of @Swayingpalmtrees’ post, was it?

I am sick and tired of being blackmailed that teachers will leave education - well the door is that way>>>>> plenty of people willing to take new jobs in teaching with some real enthusiasm and genuine care for children. We don't need militant teachers that disregard children at the first opportunity thanks all the same.

Are you volunteering then?

Because teaching is in crisis at the moment due to the numbers leaving the profession because, despite the holidays and the pension, the job is still just too shitty (I am one of them). An increasingly large proportion of those who do join the profession are finding they can't hack it either and are leaving within 5 years.

So we shall await your application...

The article is rubbish. There is no rigour in their method - you can take information and make it say whatever you want it to say if you spin it right.

There will always be children who’ll be developmentally delayed. Some will catch up, some won’t. Lockdowns may have played a part in this, and may have affected their development - but the cost of letting Covid run rife before vaccines would be much higher.

Anyone who thinks people are lining up to be teachers, and that the ones who are leaving can be easily replaced, are having a laugh.

This thread has got me thinking about my own childhood. Working parents, cared for by my grandparents, not in provision until preschool at 3 and half… however did I turn out to be a productive member of society?

I really feel for people who’ve lost loved ones to covid. The sentiment on this thread, that the lives of the old or the unwell are worthless, compared to minor developmental delays that WILL mostly correct over time, is really stomach turning.

Ozanj it’s not just potty training though. It’s language. There will be toddlers who’ve heard virtually no spoken English - in some areas the language of streets and local shops isn’t English and they couldn’t leave their area so where would they hear it, rhyme time in the library cancelled, no toddler groups running.

There’s been a recruitment crisis in teaching for years, decades really.

Interestingly, the job market in 2021 was difficult to break into, I suspect because so many trainees from 2020 didn’t have jobs. Having said that, it’s always been the case that teacher retention is the issue rather than recruitment.

@Twizbe

I think it's good that it's being recognised that damage has been done. I think it will mean that lockdowns won't feature in the future.

My DD I think is part of a group that have been least damaged by lockdown. She's was just one when it started and had only been at nursery a few weeks. She'd had her first year 'as normal' with all the in person checks and support. She was at an age where being at home with just me was fine and by the time she needed more socialisation nursery / preschool had restarted.

My DS on the other hand. He as 3 when it started and I think he's fear of public toilets is due to not being able to go to any for so long when he was early in the potty training.

My DD (now nearly six) was three, nearly four, at the start of the pandemic.

Could just be an age thing, but the summer of 2020 when lockdown eased was when her toilet anxiety started - not being scared of toilets but scared of there not being toilets - so to this day, she spends 20 minutes on the toilet before school, goes at every transition period at school and at home. I think it's because we spent so long inside/only going out for a walk, she wasn't used to/couldn't remember being out for longer periods of time and how to manage waiting to use a toilet.

Isn't it a third of new teachers leave within 5 years. With many teachers leaving well within retirement age, there really is a teaching crisis and only getting worse.

With the comment about masks and how that has affected some children, I wonder how children cope in cultures where it is the norm for women to cover their faces?

Ours have been fine, probably even thrived with it because of more outdoor time and time with their dad. Even I can recognise that people with fewer resources would have found it much more difficult though, we were really lucky. It only takes a few days of an isolating toddler whilst working full time to see how people end up with more grey hairs and a kid with the same accent as Peppa.

And is very anxious about getting off the toilet.. She's not so bad now but there used to be major tears and upset about the prospect, occasionally actually had to lift her off with her clinging to it.

That’s not a culture I’d ever choose to raise my child in

@bookworm14

YANBU. Many of us pointed out at the time that incalculable damage was being done to children, but we were told that ‘kids are resilient’, and that small children don’t need interaction with anyone other than their parents. Anyone who suggested school and nursery closures might not be a great idea was told that we only wanted our kids at school for the childcare and we couldn’t be bothered to take care of them ourselves. Those of us who posted in desperation about the effect of lockdown on our own kids were told it was our fault.

Everything we warned about has turned out to be correct.

God this.

Lockdown was horrendous. We enrolled DD in play therapy because she became SO WITHDRAWN even after being back at school. She despises any form of home learning after hours spent at the computer crying. She's recovered but there's still traits I see. She hates anyone getting too in her space, will get uncomfortable standing near people in shops etc.

DS hates crowds. He was only 2 1/2 when lockdown hit and even now his interaction with his peers isn't where it should be. He's extremely tearful and always looks to adults to resolve even the most minor conflicts, he struggles to make friends and becomes very overwhelmed around other children after too long.

This is after over a year of 'normal life'. DD's reading skills and numeracy really crashed after home learning and we're still working hard to recover them. DS also missed out on the nursery settings and socialisation. I can only hope it's something they both grow out of.

@BeforeGodAndAllTheFish

Everything in that article is just bad, lazy parenting. Nothing to do with lockdown. Everything to do with bad, lazy parents not doing what they should have.

My children thrived during lockdown. They returned to school way ahead of where they should have been. Because I actually made an effort.

I guess you weren't WFH 35+ hours a day whilst juggling caring for a pre-schooler and teaching your children. Because that's what a lot of "lazy" parents were doing.

Surely a lot of this could actually be parenting issues rather than lockdowns?

Parents feeling like it is school/preschool/nurseries job to educate the child and not bothering when these were closed.

I have a young child who as a result of being CEV had no preschool or reception education AT ALL and had to shield for over a year! That child is now in year 1 and doesn't have any of the above issues and is ahead of many of her peers who I know personally and whose parents regularly declared how they couldn't be bothered and it wasn't their job to educate.
Education in early years begins at home!

@jumpbounce

Surely a lot of this could actually be parenting issues rather than lockdowns?

Parents feeling like it is school/preschool/nurseries job to educate the child and not bothering when these were closed.

I have a young child who as a result of being CEV had no preschool or reception education AT ALL and had to shield for over a year! That child is now in year 1 and doesn't have any of the above issues and is ahead of many of her peers who I know personally and whose parents regularly declared how they couldn't be bothered and it wasn't their job to educate.
Education in early years begins at home!

Do you work, have other children?

Absolutely awful that some are seeking to blame parents for this.

Assuming you didn't work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I'm sure you could squeeze in a round of Old Macdonald.

Best regards

Callous Twat

Love the fact that people think I’m ‘lazy’ because my children were affected.
I was doing a full time job, caring for a toddler and homeschooling a 6 and 5 year old. I worked until 2am most nights so that I didn’t fall behind. Up at 7am with the children. Really lazy, me 😂.
Honestly, anyone who wants to tell parents who were almost broken trying to juggle everything that they were just ‘lazy’, I’m sorry that you have such issues in your own life that you’ve become a nasty, emotionally dead cunt.

@CornishGem1975

Assuming you didn't work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I'm sure you could squeeze in a round of Old Macdonald.

Best regards

Callous Twat

And what were you doing? How many hours were you working? How many children were you homeschooling? How many toddlers were you caring for at the same time?