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.

The ‘cartoon voice’ could well be because they have learned English from TV/IPad but their accent is fine in the language spoken to at home. I have an acquaintance who speaks American English as she is self taught from Disney films. She doesn’t have an American accent when speaking her first language.
Remember there were restrictions or perceived restrictions on movement - how many miles from home was ok. Some towns had extra restrictions. There are areas where language openly spoken in local shops and on streets isn’t English.

It was like watching a slow motion car crash marsha, we were all screaming as the dash boards were turning red in every household, did anyone listen? No.

Too much pandering to militant teachers enjoying their furlough and G&Ts in the sun, and the unions making the most of their moment by insisting it was 'not safe' to reopen, even though the infection rates were minimal. It was an absolute disgrace.

Someone put together a group of parents to fight for children's rights as children's needs were completely ignored and unheard. They were called militants and murderers, and shut down at every turn.

Why isn't anyone being held accountable? Len McCluskey for one and all the others. We need an investigation as to how it was even possible for this to happen to our children, and some consideration as to whether this was a breach of our children's human rights - what must change so this never happens again.

Playgrounds closed for what purpose?
No picnics allowed, why?
Benches taped and police patrolling parks.

Why was this ever okay?

We need a full investigation. Our children are unable to advocate for themselves, and now more than ever it just shows no one in this country has in any meaningful way. I look at certain industries and people in a way that has changed forever because of this. People knowingly made decisions knowing what would happen, and did it anyway -

Trying to get an autistic four year old to engage with speech therapy delivered via zoom was a treat, let me tell you. Of course we only got that because we paid for it - others will have had nothing. I do wonder how much that gap in therapy affected his start at school - so hard to quantify. And the lack of any socialising with other children for months, as he’s an only child. He seems happy but I wonder if he’d be getting on better if he’d had all the early years education that he was supposed to.

The second national lockdown was incredibly hard for us, and that was with me as a SAHM. It aged me 10 years!

Someone will say ‘teachers weren’t furloughed, they were working’ I bet.

@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!

exactly and dont forget it was not many generations ago there were no toddler groups or pre-school and children were with parents until 5 years old .

one minute the government is being slagged off for high deaths then hindsight says we should have risked more by reducing lockdown

@Swayingpalmtrees

to be fair teachers were never furloughed.

Too many parents sticking their kids in front of the TV. I often get slammed on here for quoting the WHO guidelines on passive TV.

One of the issues is that nursery/schools have to pick up the pieces where some families fail to parent properly. A number of these families didn't send their children in to nursery/school even when they could a were treated as vulnerable children. Therefore, the gap for these children have grown.

The unions didn't cause schools to be closed, in fact the Government were threatening schools where staff were potentially refusing to come in (as the Government were not providing any mitigation). Funnily enough the Government then decided to close the schools, but that had nothing to do with the unions

@manysummersago

Someone will say ‘teachers weren’t furloughed, they were working’ I bet.

Teachers drove me nuts too. Home schooling was pathetic in my children's case.

But they weren't furloughed.

It doesn't help this discussion to introduce untruths.

God I think I have a Pavlovian response to the words "Not. Safe."

@Swayingpalmtreeswaying- had a proper cry at what you wrote I so agree.
I can't stand to remember people jumping out of the way of my innocent toddler so keen to get out of her reach on a walk as if she was a germ machine. Felt so let down by friends who suddenly didn't want to associate with me because my child had gone to play group. Left with extreme isolation and anxiety and now that affecting my parenting too.

@Unsure33 at no point in history have little children been isolated from other little children.

I really hate the sneering on here.

We now need to be focusing on how we deal with the consequences, not criticising the decisions made with the best intensions during an unprecedented crisis

I think that's one of the most crucial points.

In many ways it doesn't matter what happened before - what's done is done.

Now we need to be looking at the govenment and saying "What are you doing to deal with this?"

If they get away with it they'll just spend the next few years banging on about how hard Covid hit everything. That doesn't help. Services need to be put in place to deal with the actual issues created by covid and lockdowns crashing down on top of austerity cuts.

There's not point in them telling is "Covid has caused waiting lists to increase massively" if that sentence isn't followed by "so this is what we're doing..."

Same with children needing to catch up - what are they actually going to do about it? Because ignoring it and just commenting about how good teachers are is merely passing the buck to schools that are already over-worked, under-staffed and underfunded.

And we also need to be careful we don't sleep walk into this lasting even longer because of the decision that there should be no more measures at all. Parents at my DD's school are up in arms because the HT has brought bubbles back in (sensible ones - 2/3 year groups -basically split the school into 3 - together so that there's no/very few siblings in different ones and staff not mixing) because "measures are over" yet that ignores the fact that the two other schools locally have both been decimated by staff off and both had closures. Sensible measures shouldn't be ruled out on principle.

@manysummersago

Someone will say ‘teachers weren’t furloughed, they were working’ I bet.

Because no teacher was furloughed.

You can see the pp that shouted on here for months and years to keep our schools closed, because now they change tack and blame funding or policy etc. And parents for not singing more for ffs as if that would have made any difference!

Not keen to take responsibility for their part in this historical abuse of children, they hide here in plain sight blaming everyone but themselves, and yet they paid the unions to do this, and demanded 100% safety before they even consider a reopening.

I will not forgive or forget, no parent will.

I would have more respect for the pp that came on and held their hands up and said they wish they had not supported the closure of schools when it became plainly obvious how bad it was going to be for our kids.

What’s done might be done but I reserve the right to be pissed off about being told that my needs as a pregnant woman, a woman in labour and a mother with a newborn were unimportant because covid. I reserve the right to say my child and I deserved better. And so do other peoples.

The second national lockdown was incredibly hard for us, and that was with me as a SAHM. It aged me 10 years!

I think it was extremely difficult for SAHP and furloughed. I was actually glad of work as it was the only normality and escape from the endless other stuff.

30% of our teachers were furloughed to save money, have you actually looked at the stats? Many schools did the same as ours. The rest attempted a mediocre effort at home schooling. It was pitiful. Some exceptions of course, but most teachers did not care and didn't even bother to try. Just sent through work sheets by email from the garden. I am sure their gardens look lovely now, but hardly a consolation

@Jobsharenightmare

Too many parents sticking their kids in front of the TV. I often get slammed on here for quoting the WHO guidelines on passive TV.

How else would you suggest entertaining children when teaching or on Zoom calls? Just let them loose in the kitchen with finger paints and a gas cooker and slam the door?

And for those posters who think schools/nurseries etc should have remained open for their children, who exactly would have been caring for them/teaching them, if all the staff caught Covid?

What a ridiculous post! No doubt you can all blame the government, and insist you would have done a better job of running the country and making extremely difficult decisions about an unknown virus.

I suggest you try.

A child drowned as a result of his mother working during the lockdown - that really upset me.

@manysummersago

What’s done might be done but I reserve the right to be pissed off about being told that my needs as a pregnant woman, a woman in labour and a mother with a newborn were unimportant because covid. I reserve the right to say my child and I deserved better. And so do other peoples.

I mean there's already a chronic shortage of midwives, and research has shown covid to be potentially dangerous to pregnant mothers and newborns. What do you think they should have done prior to vaccines, having a clear understanding of transmission, effective treatments, PPE, testing etc? Some midwives would have been too poorly to work with it for a start which would have led to being even worse staffing levels and care; or should they have just come in anyway and thought probably be fine? It was a super shite situation, there was no answer, no workaround that would have been without fault- it was a balance. I didn't agree with lockdown as it was, but curious about the magic alternatives that no other country managed to conjure out of thin air either.

The children that were murdered, abused and neglected because there were no school or nursery safe guards in place.

Not to mention the children that are STILL unaccounted for, thousands of them.

No teacher I know said schools should be closed (and many posters on here always twist the words to say that teachers did). They sensibly asked for mitigation to help keep schools open, they have complained about funding all the way through, they haven't just started complaining about funding.

As posted above my son't school is closed now due to lack of staff. It is the second time this academic year my DS has had 2 weeks remote provision. I am not complaining, his school has done its best to stay open but it hasn't got the staff. I can't see this would have been easier if we had not had lockdown.Some of the staff have been really ill, and this is with vaccines. How would the schools have coped with all pupils in and no vaccines? Many staff would have gone off long term sick. many staff are leaving education.

Be careful what you wish for, because the temporary measures of having numerous classes in the school hall being taught by one teacher, or teaching assistants covering for teachers may become the norm. Then we will see an even greater reduction in education standards.

teaching assistants covering for teachers may become the norm

It already is the norm