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.

You know, @manysummersago, right now you're the main one who's harping on about teachers.
Thought you wanted to move on?

@RaleighDurham

You know, *@manysummersago*, right now you're the main one who's harping on about teachers. Thought you wanted to move on?

@RaleighDurham

You know, *@manysummersago*, right now you're the main one who's harping on about teachers. Thought you wanted to move on?

The thread stopped talking about teachers several posts back. Clearly that’s not allowed so @RaleighDurham has kindly pushed it back on track

@manysummersago

Yes, if you find the thread boring do just stop posting on it, Jimmy. I’m finding the ‘the real victims here are the poor teachers’ beyond tedious myself.

I find Us4Them very tedious - well, actually very dangerous but living in a democracy means we have to put up with hearing opinions we actively dislike .

So now we have clarified how we feel, how do we move forward from a global pandemic where schools and nurseries were closed around teh world. Firstly, we need to identify which children have been affected. As has been shown on this thread, some children thrived in lockdown, some are as plodding on as expected and some are behind. This does not correlate with income as some wealthy families are ‘chaotic’ and struggled so this needs to be done carefully. We also need to look at emotional and educational impact. From this, we need to provide intervention groups to target specific needs. This will need funding as extra teachers or professionals will be required to provide the support, even if it is only for a few years. I would suggest lobbying MPS to have this pushed as an agenda. If you did this with the passion you show here, I am sure you will be heard. I would hope that vanity projects like HS2 could be canned to pay for this support. Furthermore, as the affected toddlers will now be in school or close to school age, look at what is happening with Covid right now and think of how to negate the impact Covid is still having. If it isn’t sorted now, children’s education will be damaged over the next five or even ten years (and beyond). I would also look at a return to funding SureStart to help some of those who struggle with parenting and continue to do so. What are your solutions to move forward?

To clarify, I am acknowledging that children (and young adults) were affected by lockdown but I still support lockdown one and two as I believe they saved lives until the vaccination programme started and we had a better understanding of the virus.

Why do posters keep talking about Us4Them?

Is the idea that they are on this thread, ie is it meant to be personal or just general thoughts on the group

@WouldBeGood, interactions with parents were never restricted, unless the parents contracted covid...

If babies and toddlers never heard a nursery rhyme and never had a book read to them during lockdown, then that's down to parents.

@JimmyGrimble, you are 100% right about the crisis in early years provision and the fact that it's a case of tying to make bricks without straw now for schools.

It’s the bingo system I think @MarshaBradyo

Us4Them
Leaving in droves
On their knees
Children are resilient
There were no toddler groups in the past

I’m sure there are several more.

@manysummersago

It’s the bingo system I think *@MarshaBradyo*

Us4Them
Leaving in droves
On their knees
Children are resilient
There were no toddler groups in the past

I’m sure there are several more.

Are we doing lazy tropes now manysummers? I have a few I won’t bore you with ..,

So have we any ideas how to help the children? I’d hate for your thread to get derailed.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

So have we any ideas how to help the children? I’d hate for your thread to get derailed.

You’ve been having it derailed since you came on it @BustopherPonsonbyJones

You and others know full well that you have and have typically reacted badly to this being pointed out.

The thread wasn’t ‘how do we help children’, the thread was pointing out that those of us concerned about this last year were not wrong.

We were not wrong @manysummersago.

I think it will be very difficult to help the children affected, as development can’t easily be “fixed”. I’m not taking academic achievement.

I was hoping that everyone would realise it can’t happen again, but the trenchant views of some is so depressing. And mainly based on ignorance of the science and good practice of human development, as well as lacking empathy.

In order for it to "can't happen again," it needs those in nurseries and schools to use their expertise (as they always do) to do their utmost to help plug the gaps.
And yet, here we have the OP admitting that she didn't start this thread to debate how best that might happen, but to say "I told you so."

FML.

@RaleighDurham

In order for it to "can't happen again," it needs those in nurseries and schools to use their expertise (as they always do) to do their utmost to help plug the gaps. And yet, here we have the OP admitting that she didn't start this thread to debate how best that might happen, but to say "I told you so."

FML.

Keep polishing that halo @RaleighDurha

Just a terribly sad time for a lot of small kids. I’m not at all surprised that toddlers have struggled. My now-3 year old has started to thrive again but I remember how long it took to coax him into approaching other children - he would simply wait at the edge of the playground until there were no kids on the equipment he wanted to use.

I remember I climbed over the little fence to get into the local playground with my son on the day the government reopened them (7am so the council hadn’t yet snipped the plastic ties on the gate). An old man walking his dog took the time to stop and berate me, for “breaking the law”. I remember going home and bursting into tears because he was so angry and I’m not used to being yelled at in public.

Strange times. Our poor kids.

No.

It means lockdown must not happen again.

It’s not about teachers. It’s policy decisions made by governments which have been shown to be harmful and ineffective.

@MarshaBradyo

Why do posters keep talking about Us4Them?

Is the idea that they are on this thread, ie is it meant to be personal or just general thoughts on the group

It’s to try and discredit anyone who suggests lockdowns and school closures might not have been great for kids. If you can tell yourself they’re all just part of a shadowy government-funded astroturfing pressure group, you don’t have to take their concerns seriously.

Or, @RaleighDurham, to share the findings from a news article

Are the people starting threads about Ukraine proposing how to stop Putin, or sharing information and discussing it? I’m not purporting to be an early years expert. I just know what happened to me, and am talking about it.

Turning this into something personal is really unfair.

And for what it’s worth, I was on the UsForThem Facebook group for a couple of weeks in April 2020 before leaving when I realised it was full of anti-vaxers and 5G conspiracy theorists. I have nothing do to with UsForThem and I still think prolonged school closures and lockdowns were catastrophic for children.

@bookworm14

And for what it’s worth, I was on the UsForThem Facebook group for a couple of weeks in April 2020 before leaving when I realised it was full of anti-vaxers and 5G conspiracy theorists. I have nothing do to with UsForThem and I still think prolonged school closures and lockdowns were catastrophic for children.

I’m not sure anyone is disagreeing with that. It was done in light of what was known about covid at the time. It can’t be undone. How long are we going to wring our hands and shout about how unfair it all was? Children need action. What should we do now?

Well, we need massive government funding to help kids catch up, which sadly doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.

The news was yesterday.

People will talk about it.

This is a good article, which makes the point that £15 billion was supposed to be made available to help kids recover, but the Treasury wouldn’t cough up. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/after-the-disaster-of-lockdown-children-are-being-failed-again-zcp9jjs0t