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.

Lol at the idea parents in the forties actively parenting their dc.
Dm was a child of the forties - played out unsupervised from the age of 3 . Her db was saved from drowning in the canal by a 9 yr old.
They weren’t unusual. They played out with whole street.

As a child of the 70s I went to playgroup. And played out unsupervised from the age of 5 with the rest of the street. Play dates were going unheard of. We knocked on doors to see if anyone was playing out.

There is no comparison to todays kids &childrearing where mothers are expected to know where their dc are and supervise them. Any of the above today would result in social service being involved.

For those who wfh with young dc I genuinely don’t know how you did it.

It’s easier to blame parents than fund catch up help. Some children will not just magically catch up. If the church volunteer run toddler group has closed that means some 2 year olds will miss out, better off family will just take them to paid commercial group costing £5 not £1 or be able to drive to next town where the group is still open.

@TeaAndBiscuitsAndWine
Yet. Some parents managed to fit everything into the 24 hours of the day spreading over the 7 days.

You're not the only parent with a child/ren with sen or health issues themselves.

Many thrived. As I said, I'm a lone parent, shielded, wfh and home educated my child. I was up every evening planning activities for the next day. It was hard. My child was worth it and deserved nothing less. That's parenting.

The sad truth is, as much as you are all (not all) patting yourself on the shoulders about your excellent parenting, the impact on your children a wellbeing and mental health may not be apparent for years, or potentially decades.

I am thankful that myself and my neighbours who had children the same age as my child, allowed them all to mix and play together in the garden and in each other's houses by forming a bubble.

If I hadn't had this I wouid be reeling at the affect of restrictions on our kids.

I also have older kids.. schools closing was so detrimental.

@Swayingpalmtrees

choicemummy Anyone can educate ONE child, a walk in the park. Had your experience been with multiple children you may feel somewhat differently.

Yet, there I was providing lessons for myolder nephews over zoom. So yes, I fitted it in. It was possible and still we have so many parents who are unwilling to acknowledge that they have disadvantaged their children. Their actions and choices. Their excuses.

I am a private music teacher and taught online throughout the pandemic. Everyone coped remarkably well and I know their parents were doing their absolute utmost but it was a far from ideal situation. When the children went back to school and finally we were able to resume in person lessons, I could almost see the cloud lifting from all of them. They were back to being children again. Children who have private music lessons tend to come from a background with supportive parents; many from a fairly affluent background but they were still affected. I sometimes thought at the time that it must have been almost impossible to cope if you were a single parent on the tenth floor of a tower block with several boys aged between, say, ten and fifteen. It is not only the youngest children who have been affected - the head teacher of one of our local secondary schools reported that many year eleven pupils are behaving more like year nine. The repercussions of the lockdowns are going to affect this generation for a long time to come.

[quote ChoiceMummy]@TeaAndBiscuitsAndWine
Yet. Some parents managed to fit everything into the 24 hours of the day spreading over the 7 days.

You're not the only parent with a child/ren with sen or health issues themselves.

Many thrived. As I said, I'm a lone parent, shielded, wfh and home educated my child. I was up every evening planning activities for the next day. It was hard. My child was worth it and deserved nothing less. That's parenting.[/quote]
How old was your child at the time of lockdowns?

I’m presuming choicemummy has continued to choose to home educate as she’s so good at it.

Well done you.

If I said what I wanted to say to certain posters on this thread, I would be banned. I will simply point out that what my child ‘deserved’, and I could not provide, was proper interaction with other children. I could have been the most caring, dedicated, conscientious mother in the world and I still would not have been meeting all her needs, through no fault of my own. It was illegal for her to meet with a single other child in person for months on end.

If there wasn’t general acknowledgment that dc did better with their peers and with socialisation so many posters wouldn’t have rushed to get a place in the second lockdown.

I’m sure some dc were ok isolated but even the most ardent lockdown enthusiasts took that KW place if they could.

My son’s nursery said they have a lot of “Covid kids” that are under supervision. Basically these kids lack social skills and they can’t tell whether the deficit is due to autism or social isolation during the pandemic. My son is one of them - he was isolated for two years with only his parents and grandparents for company, he’s very shy, he doesn’t have a local accent and he often pronounces words like they do in American cartoons. So he will have to be watched closely over the next couple of years to see if he develops more signs of autism or whether it’s literally just because he saw nobody and was stuck in the house for most of his life.

I hope you found time to teach your children the empathy you lack @ChoiceMummy

Quite @bookworm14

Home schooling multiple kids and working was very stressful.

I did not understand half of the things my kids were learning so I was unable to help them, that made us both very stressed.

Also my school homeschooling was shocking give me a child up to year 3 and that wouid have been fine for me but my older kids were end of primary school.

How do you homeschool wheh you work full time, it's not doable.

And what really pissed me off on here was everyone so desperate to get the schools closed down.

@ancientgran

I think the 2020 lockdown could have ended sooner for schools - they could have gone back after the summer half term. Certain school years didn’t go near a school for nearly six months - March to September. Children didn't miss six months at school though, there would have been the Easter holidays, half term and the long summer holiday and some children did have time back at school before the summer holidays, I know my GC did, maybe because they were teenagers but they did go back part time.

Yes which is why I said children didn’t go near a school for almost six months

Good for your grandchildren. They were in the minority - only certain years went back. The rest were ignored.

@ChoiceMummy Ghastly selfish parenting there of your nephews by your sister or brother, or whoever their legal guardian may be. Why on earth weren't they doing the lessons themselves and putting their children first?

@Cirelle

My son’s nursery said they have a lot of “Covid kids” that are under supervision. Basically these kids lack social skills and they can’t tell whether the deficit is due to autism or social isolation during the pandemic. My son is one of them - he was isolated for two years with only his parents and grandparents for company, he’s very shy, he doesn’t have a local accent and he often pronounces words like they do in American cartoons. So he will have to be watched closely over the next couple of years to see if he develops more signs of autism or whether it’s literally just because he saw nobody and was stuck in the house for most of his life.

Surely that was a choice you made though, to isolate him for 2 years? You chose not to send him to nursery or anywhere for 2 years or do you live somewhere where they were? It wasn't illegal to meet people outside for the vast majority of the past 2 years. I'm sure you had reasons to make the choices that you did but they were your choices at the end of the day.

he was isolated for two years with only his parents and grandparents for company,

Why? Because there was never any requirement to do this.

Here’s a thought @RoastedFerret and @TheYearOfSmallThings maybe Corelli doesn’t need to tell you. I’m sure she had her reasons. They are none of our business

It is obviously relevant if she is arguing that lockdown has harmed her child's development.

My two year old isn't talking, he babbles and communicates with pointing but no words. He was three months old when lockdown happened so he has spent a large amount of his life under lockdown or with restrictions. I do think this has impacted his speech as he never got to go to any baby groups or classes or had the social interaction that he would have had normally.

We have done everything possible with him that we did with our older child and she was talking from a young age.

It makes me so angry to witness what lockdown has done to babies and toddlers - the impact it has had on them. Then were just forgotten about.

But she doesn’t need to give her reasons to you. You don’t get to judge if they’re valid or not.

But she doesn’t need to give her reasons to you. You don’t get to judge if they’re valid or not.

Of course she doesn't...but then let's be clear (given the subject of this thread) that whatever those reasons were they were not compliance with any COVID guidance.

The effects of the pandemic have been particularly awful for all those going through developmental stages, so children and young people up to mid-20s. Also, older people, people with disabilities, some ethnic groups etc etc.

But to focus on children and young people... it's all been done now. Learning for the future (hopefully never to be needed...) yes, but arguing over should haves and could haves is pretty fruitless.

What needs to happen is large scale social adjustments and investment to nurture these children and young people, to try to make up some of what they've lost.

So, the school curriculum being massively revamped to focus on social and emotional skills, and those relevant for the 21st century, rather than the outdated 'knowledge based curriculum'.

Massive investment in early years and teaching staff so that the people looking after and teaching our children are well themselves.

Adjustments to FE and HE to give young adults more time to just be young adults.

More apprenticeships, more access to decent housing etc.

Lots of things that could be done now, if we have a government that gave a shiny shit about the welfare of the ordinary people of the country.