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.

@CornishGem1975

I had a lockdown baby, he thrived. Of course, there will be children affected but there will equally be many that sailed through. I have more concern for my teens than my toddler to be quite honest.

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

But that’s why nursery school is so so important for some children. For many kids it’s the only place they will hear a story or a nursery rhyme.

Easy to say ‘well the parents should do it’ but that doesn’t make the parents do it.

But yes I noticed a huge change in my kids. More so my 8yo who is autistic but also slightly my younger child. Lack of provision that was sorely needed, lack of socialisation out of the home etc. Also my dd had to start school with no real preschool experience since the lockdowns and closures meant she never got settled which I felt like affected how she struggled to settle at school. Then obviously there was the school closures.

I’m with comdunning I had no real issue with the first lockdown but I think they went on too long and started causing real damage

I ended up bringing 21 year old ds1 and his 23 year old partner back home after 4 weeks when they were really struggling

I told ds1 yesterday that i felt bad not having them back sooner but why didn’t he tell me earlier before they got in such a state and he said he didn’t know how bad he was til he got here

The madness of sacrificing the young and healthy on the altar of the old and sick was almost criminal. And the fudging of statistics absolutely was criminal.

My Father died in April 2020, he was diagnosed with stage 4 Bowel Cancer at the end of 2018. His Death Certificate says Covid, this is absolute Bollocks. They didn't even do a PM.

He apparently "looked like he might have had Covid". That was all that was required to determine an official cause of death.

He couldn't speak, eat, or move for the last three month's of his life. He lasted way longer than his Consultant predicted.

The "Deaths" We were all blamed for mostly didn't happen. The numbers were made up and manipulated to fit a predetermined criteria.

It was shameful what was done to society.

I do feel that locking down was right at the time, we didn't know how bad things could get and had to take action. My dd was 1 when lockdown started, she is doing fine but yes is a bit shy when around different adults. Of course there are consequences but teachers will do all they can to help mitigate here for those in their classes. I'm more concerned about the negative impact this government is continuing to have on education.

Quite @Fritilleries

I get quite irked that my toddler is almost expected to be damaged or disadvantaged when he's not. Quite the opposite. Compared to my older children, he's thrived.

Some children who are now showing signs of shyness, or speech impairment, or who were slow to learn things may well have had these things going on without lockdown. I had a shy, clingy fussy toddler who was very late to walk - I don't have a pandemic to blame that on, it's just the way he was.

Lockdown was shit but not all children have suffered because of it.

Oops sorry

I meant to say that i think it would have been worse with younger children and that enormous damage has been caused rightly or wrongly

@peachgreen hope you and dd are keeping well

I'm torn on this. My ds has a speech delay and I feel incredibly guilty reading this. I know he missed out on baby and toddler classes as well as nursery but he's been read to, talked to, loved, played with, taken out and he's only just starting to speak at 3.

@CornishGem1975

I had a lockdown baby, he thrived. Of course, there will be children affected but there will equally be many that sailed through. I have more concern for my teens than my toddler to be quite honest.

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

This absolutely. I have a nearly 4 yr old and and 18 month old grandchildren. The only thing we have noticed, which could be coincidental, is the youngest is always full of a cold. Toddles at hone with furloughed parents should surely have had a greater exposure to speech, play, conversations with their carers as they’d have been home more! We are in danger of the so called dangers of lockdown becoming self fulfilling prophesies. Sure, for some people it was horrendous, generally peopl who lived alone or people in care homes or hospital isolated from their loved ones. We were discussing this very issue at school the kther day. The Dyfs team have completed some speech and language assessments and the nursery children have done better than the last time they did them in 2019.

If nursery is so important then we should start finding it better. Lots of nursery are closing down, lots of staff leaving and fees to expensive for parents.

@CornishGem1975

Quite *@Fritilleries*

I get quite irked that my toddler is almost expected to be damaged or disadvantaged when he's not. Quite the opposite. Compared to my older children, he's thrived.

Some children who are now showing signs of shyness, or speech impairment, or who were slow to learn things may well have had these things going on without lockdown. I had a shy, clingy fussy toddler who was very late to walk - I don't have a pandemic to blame that on, it's just the way he was.

Lockdown was shit but not all children have suffered because of it.

Nobody is saying all children suffered. But many did, that’s what the report is saying. Not all.

@Notthedeadparrotsketch

The madness of sacrificing the young and healthy on the altar of the old and sick was almost criminal. And the fudging of statistics absolutely was criminal.

My Father died in April 2020, he was diagnosed with stage 4 Bowel Cancer at the end of 2018. His Death Certificate says Covid, this is absolute Bollocks. They didn't even do a PM.

He apparently "looked like he might have had Covid". That was all that was required to determine an official cause of death.

He couldn't speak, eat, or move for the last three month's of his life. He lasted way longer than his Consultant predicted.

The "Deaths" We were all blamed for mostly didn't happen. The numbers were made up and manipulated to fit a predetermined criteria.

It was shameful what was done to society.

I’m sorry about your father and agree with everything you’ve said

I think this is also about inequality generally. Some of us were able to enjoy lockdown, relatively speaking, because we didn't have to work (I was self-employed then and my work dried up, but I was fortunate enough to get the income support payments) or had partners suddenly at home a lot more and able to assist with day to day things. DH's work was very quiet and he was at home all the time, so he was able to join in with stuff he wouldn't have been able to before. We also have a large garden and the weather was good during the first lockdown so we spent a lot of time out there having fun.

But that's not everyone's experience or privilege. Some children only get stories and playtime at things like free church groups or preschool groups with funded hours because they have chaotic home lives or simply because their parents had to work throughout lockdown so they were missing out on engagement during the day that would have got at nursery or other childcare. New mothers were isolated as there weren't any face to face support groups or baby groups, and I found those very important when DD was small just to give some structure to my day. And unsupported and isolated new parents are unlikely to be able to offer as much to their child as they might otherwise.

Of course some children will have thrived, but many lost out on opportunities that they won't get the chance to have it again. I don't think lockdown or the pandemic has affected my DD overly but we are fortunate, because I can totally see and understand how it has affected other children.

Yes @ComDummings - not all and that should be made clearer. The media has focused on the fact that children have watched so much TV that they are mimicking accents. The report says one provider has mentioned this. So potentially one person has said this about one child and all of a sudden, the poor neglected children of England are all speaking with American accents.

My daughter was three months old when the first lockdown happened. She said the word 'mask' before she said her brothers names and liked to play dress up by putting masks on. She holds out her hands for sanitiser whenever we go into shops.

Saying that, she has developed normally (I have two older children and she's no different to them at the same age, probably more advanced than the eldest) and I have no concerns at all about she is progressing.

My eldest son, however, started school in 2020 and he missed so much between lockdowns and isolating every two minutes plus he's had Covid twice himself. We did try with the homeschooling but we have two children younger than him in the house and we're both working, it was virtually impossible to do it all. The whole thing was really stressful. He is a bit behind with school stuff but really behind emotionally and behaviourally. He struggles with school and has found it hard to make friends. Given that he had Covid twice anyway, I wish he had just been able to go to school normally.

@Notthedeadparrotsketch

The madness of sacrificing the young and healthy on the altar of the old and sick was almost criminal. And the fudging of statistics absolutely was criminal.

My Father died in April 2020, he was diagnosed with stage 4 Bowel Cancer at the end of 2018. His Death Certificate says Covid, this is absolute Bollocks. They didn't even do a PM.

He apparently "looked like he might have had Covid". That was all that was required to determine an official cause of death.

He couldn't speak, eat, or move for the last three month's of his life. He lasted way longer than his Consultant predicted.

The "Deaths" We were all blamed for mostly didn't happen. The numbers were made up and manipulated to fit a predetermined criteria.

It was shameful what was done to society.

I’m sorry that your father died, but to assume the statistics are all flawed is wrong. My great aunt and uncle both died of Covid in July 2020, both fit as fiddles before testing positive. Try asking NHS staff who were working g in Covid wards just how bad it was.

[quote Imanidiotiknow]@peachgreen hope you and dd are keeping well

I'm torn on this. My ds has a speech delay and I feel incredibly guilty reading this. I know he missed out on baby and toddler classes as well as nursery but he's been read to, talked to, loved, played with, taken out and he's only just starting to speak at 3.[/quote]
I'm sure you've absolutely done your best, it sounds like you have, and there's a high chance your DS would have had a speech delay without a lockdown, so I don't think you should feel guilty at all.

Of course not all children will have suffered.

But as usual the ones where something in their life makes it hard for them- disability, poverty, parents with issues -will have suffered disproportionately. Jolly good for all of you who weren’t affected.

By the same reasoning not all ill or elderly people would be affected by covid so how patronising to lock down a country for the ones that would eh?

I work in primary and some change have thrived in lockdown because of the quality time with parents whereas others who rely on school to bring their child up, found themselves coming unstuck. Harsh but true.

@Freddiefox

If nursery is so important then we should start finding it better. Lots of nursery are closing down, lots of staff leaving and fees to expensive for parents.

Of course it should be better funded but I can see why people are leaving - I left myself and now earn more money standing around a shop. No stress, relaxed days, flexible working times, and I leave on the dot every single shift. It’s great.

It’s a difficult thing because the staff are simply not paid enough for the difficult job they do which makes the experience so helpful for kids.

Children not change

@Benjispruce4

I work in primary and some change have thrived in lockdown because of the quality time with parents whereas others who rely on school to bring their child up, found themselves coming unstuck. Harsh but true.

I don’t think it’s true at all. There are some things a parent can’t give their kids. Such as socialisation with others and the independence of exploring an environment without the parent there.

My lockdown dd is well ahead of where she should be in reading, maths etc, because I had that time with her in lockdown and she could get 1-1 teaching from me. But how does that help her feel comfortable in a new environment or learn to associate with other kids? It doesn’t.

I bet the government loves us fighting over which individual child thrived or suffered and whether lockdowns were sensible or proportionate.

The reality is many children have suffered because of a lockdown that happened. The question now is what are the government going to solve some of the problems.

Or are we going to put everything on personal responsibility? In which case can we get rid of the government entirely then?

Lockdown was shit but not all children have suffered because of it

True

But a great many did

@Benjispruce4

I work in primary and some change have thrived in lockdown because of the quality time with parents whereas others who rely on school to bring their child up, found themselves coming unstuck. Harsh but true.

Well I sincerely hope that you don't work in primary education because if you do, your argument is that we don't need schools (which was a constant argument on here during the first lockdown). You are doing yourself out of a job.