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.

But, greentea, it was thought to be spread by touch! We had to act on what we knew then, not what we know now.

Well this has turned in to an ugly thread.

@Finallylostit

Sorry potty training is the responsibility of the parents - am completely bewildered as to why the pandemic has aaffected that

My son started potty training shortly before his 3rd birthday in Jan 2020. When lockdown happened all public toilets closed too. Getting him used to using any other toilet than those at home didn't happen for months. He became terrified of toilets. It's taken years to repair that damage and even now he's very nervous of toilets he doesn't know.

By contrast my daughter has potty trained with public toilets being open. Very early on she was able to use them and has no issue in that regard.

Its a tough one, I have a child in the age bracket you're talking out, she's my first so I have no benchmark, but she seems ok. At the start of the whole pandemic however, we didn't know what we were dealing with and swift(ish) action was required, without mitigations many more people could have died.

Posted too soon....Doh!!

But I do agree that children (from pregnant women right up to young adults) were used as cannon fodder - and to some degree still are, strict rules are still in place in some hospitals on labour and delivery wards which I think is criminal.

@Sittininafield

But, greentea, it was thought to be spread by touch! We had to act on what we knew then, not what we know now.

What gets me about all this is that so few people were willing to use their common sense about this sort of thing. We didn't 'know' anything. We were told things that happened to fit in with the 'people will die' narrative (which was entirely to do with the fact that the NHS is not fit for purpose, and will never be fit for purpose, regardless of which political party is in power, because it is no longer in synch with the needs of an ageing population).

Op did you take any time at all to look up Amanda Spielman and her agenda?

@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.

SAHP? I'm guessing

@CornishGem1975

Not at all *@Goldbar* but nobody is working every hour of the day.

As I've already said, I work full time but still find time to do that stuff with my kids. Doesn't have to be done all day every day, 30 mins of reading, a 20 min walk at the end of the day? Find it hard to think nobody can find the time for that and if they can't, maybe they need to adjust their priorities.

Actually I was, for a time. Working every hour of every day in lockdown. Up at 5am, to bed at midnight. Turns out having to work with a small child around makes you chronically inefficient. And the rest of the time, I was too exhausted to provide optimal parenting.

Nursery isn't just some kind of optional extra for lazy working parents.

And you can’t just “get back” brain development time. That’s why the early years are so important.

The madness of sacrificing the young and healthy on the altar of the old and sick was almost criminal

Kids were thrown under the bus to save 98 year olds

Utter crap, that's not what lockdown was about!
It wasn't just about protecting the older and more vulnerable (but what's wrong with that?) it was about preventing the NHS from bring overwhelmed. Not only would hospitals full of Covid patients take care away from others who need it (including our children) but health care staff would end up ill and absent too, compounding the problem.

Lots of groups of people have been badly affected by lockdown, but I've still not seen anyone suggest a better alternative.

What would people have suggested instead? Just before we went into lockdown one of the local schools had a third of children off because people either thought their child had COVID or didn't want their child to get COVID. Quite a few staff were off too due to illness, so school would have had to close anyway if another member of staff was off.

My DS is currently at home remote learning as his school has closed due to lack of staff, and this is with vaccines

What do you think schools would have looked like with high rates of COVID and no mitigation?

That article is a gross exaggeration in my opinion. I know 4 people who had babies during the first 6 months of lockdown and their children are happy
and not afraid of people in masks. My
Nephew was born in lockdown, we didn’t see him for nearly a year. He is a normal child

The threads on here were horrendous with many posters determined to keep our schools closed indefinitely because it was not 'safe' despite jetting to Spain etc for their holidays. We were fighting to get them reopened not for childcare but for the children.

I will never forgive the unions for making it so difficult for our children to go to school, never. Many of my teacher friends stopped supporting the unions after that.They did not care about our children! They knew this was causing great damage and did not care.

We know teens that did not make it tragically and it was avoidable, the ones that did come through some of whom have serious mental health problems, possibly be for life, most have low level anxiety even now.

This pandemic has greatly damaged a whole generation of children - and masks should be banned from school indefinitely. They are still being used to the detriment of children and are useless anyway at preventing covid.

I try not to look back in anger, but honestly it is unforgivable.

I will never lockdown ever again. My children will never be subjected to this again.

It’s now clear that the restrictions did not help with excess deaths. The pandemic followed the same trajectory regardless.

Babies and children should have been prioritised. It was obvious from very early that the lockdowns were driven by hysteria.

It’s a shame that this has turned into an argument slating parents who weren’t singing nursery rhymes every second of the day with their children

I was on maternity leave during lockdown. I did get out and about, walking miles some day with the pram. I loved that. What I don't love is having that as the only possible option and being told that it doesn’t matter, babies only need cuddles and milk.

Blaming the parents is both cruel and wrong. I have studied language development. Children 0-3 need exposure to different situations and scenarios in order to help with language acquisition and we are now seeing what happens when they are denied these opportunities.

The unions have done very little for schools. School closures were down to the Government

@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!

Quite. And if children are really talking in "cartoon voices" they must have spent a lot of time watching cartoons . I would like them to say what proportion of children that are affected. And it would also be interesting to know how and what proportion of children actually benefited from not going to school or nursery

Perhaps the real issue is the systemic underfunding and neglect of the early years sector by the government and the closure of places like sure start centres. But hey let's just blame eachother and argue about lockdown. Also curious at the alternative to closing stuff. Let people die as they try and get care at hospital for non covid related things as well? Fuck the staff being paid a pittance right? As not all children have been affected this way I'd suggest social inequality plays a big part or other circumstances most likely out of people's control- but hey that might take some work to address rather than just omg lockdown told u it sucked!1

Older people and CEV should have been offered support to stay at home until vaccines were rolled out, everyone else should have been allowed to carry on as normal from early summer 2020

@manysummersago I agree with your opening post.

Our society knowingly sacrificed the most vulnerable, by which I mean the youngest.

Appalling.

It was a horrific overreaction. It should never have happened.

Every age has suffered in different ways. Not just babies and pre schoolers. Their parents weren't wearing masks at home were they, so they did see facial expressions etc. And even if you work full time you still can play games, sing, etc.

What about the kids at early secondary age who would have been starting to spread their wings, meeting up with friends on their own. The teens missing exams and parties/proms/socialising/travelling.

The uni kids, like my DD, who spent six months at uni before being forced to return home .... yet still had to pay a fortune in rent and £9K tuition fee for sitting online in her childhood bedroom. Def not the experience she expected.

I could go on and on .... my elderly friend who is still scared to leave the house, I don't think she'll ever be the same person.

The unions were behind the drive to keep schools closed.

@drpet49

That article is a gross exaggeration in my opinion. I know 4 people who had babies during the first 6 months of lockdown and their children are happy and not afraid of people in masks. My Nephew was born in lockdown, we didn’t see him for nearly a year. He is a normal child

The majority are, but it doesn't suit the hyperbole around lockdown when there are huge disparities amongst young children all of the time.