Are you planning to keep kids away from their friends entirely once schools shut?

[DorotheaHomeAlone]

We have a two kids under 6 and a newborn and like most parents we’re just waiting now for the inevitable school closure announcement. We’ve started social distancing from today but I’m wondering how sustainable it is to keep the kids here at home, away from friends, for months on end.

I’m thinking about asking a local family we see a lot if they want to continue meeting up. They have two kids the same age as ours and we could then all agree not to meet up with any other children. They could have ours sometimes or we could swap. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? Overkill? Reckless? I want to create a sustainable set-up given the schools may well be shut for months.

I'm thinking of doing this too

We'll do something similar, still see friends

People will need to do this if we want to get things under control.
It is going to be very hard.
People who do not will be indirectly causing deaths, that's how serious it is. Just because a person is low risk does not make them exempt due to the risk they pose to others.

We will not see anyone once schools shut.

Yes. Mine are off already. We are going nowhere.

I think we will meet up with one neighbouring family outside for walks. We are rural though and it’s easy to go for a walk and not encounter anyone else. We would stay at a distance from the friends as we walked

This is exactly what is worrying me that people are not taking this seriously enough and think ‘just meeting up with our friends from the village’ will do not harm. Yes it sucks, yes the kids will drive us up the wall , but there will be fewer deaths because of it. We all must play our part for the greater good. No social gatherings means just that - NONE.

Why do they have to meet with friends? WhatsApp or FaceTime people.
As I'm an only child, I'm quite happy with my own company, and was when I was a child too.
Trouble is now, peop keep their children constantly entertained, they don't know the meaning of boredom.
Boredom = imagination. Let kids entertain themselves!

Ours are off from Monday and no contact with friends except social media...

No, we’ll be staying in and not helping to spread the virus.

My kids will attend school until one of us has symptoms, and then we will stay at home. We have very good friends who live within a few seconds' walk but to us, "no unnecessary social contact" means just that. The little ones and I have been at home today too, I cancelled a trip we had planned to the zoo which we were all looking forward to. 4 yo very disappointed including screaming tantrum but I'm the grown up here and she'll just have to deal with it.

We'll be having friends kids over. If the schools shut I won't work (self employed, work from home)and I'm going to be looking after some of their dc so they can work. A few of my friends work in the nhs (one couple both do)and they usually rely on their parents and, when available, holiday clubs for childcare, clearly they can't do that now so on days they I have to work I've offered to have them.

My work is shitting down on Thursday. I’m keeping my children off school from Friday and we won’t be seeing any friends.

Mine are too young for social media or for getting much out of FaceTime. We’ll definitely be limiting contact with the outside world but I’m hearing schools might not reopen until after the summer. That is a long time for 4 and 5yo to have no social contact outside immediate family.

Yes but if we all only see one family, that's an awful lot of unnecessary contact. People are really going to have to change their mentality for a few months, otherwise we'll never get this under control. Be creative with your time and make the most of being well (hopefully) with your family.

Is it going to make much difference socialising with each other or with only two other children?

Kinda defeats the object if you meet up with people 🤦🏼‍♀️.

Are people really so stupid?

Waaaaaahhhh 😫 they're not closing the schools the government aren't taking this seriously Boris is killing us all....!!!!!! 😱

Ooh schools are closed! Let's meet up for a fun afternoon with friends!

Really? Really?

Yes

This is part of the argument for keeping the schools open. If they are closed people will do as they like. The especially selfish will continue to live life normally.

I don’t really think your plan will do too much harm but I would still think carefully about it. Keeping the children in over summer will be awful for them but not impossible and if it saves just one life it will be worth it.

Mine haven't seen any friends since last Friday.

OTOH they have a full online school schedule so they're 'seeing' classmates there. They're chatting online. When out walking the dog they sometimes see people they know but don't get closer than 6 feet apart.

Of course.

It would be absolutely wrong for them to meet up - irresponsible and foolish. Once we are on full lockdown then they won't be able to

Yes, they have each other to play with. Even my 18-year-old is only going to school for important lessons and avoiding socialising. My 62-year-old mother is ignoring all advice though.

That is a long time for 4 and 5yo to have no social contact outside immediate family.

Sorry, but that's not a good enough reason to ignore social distancing advice. You meet up with just that family, but how do you know they won't also meet up with 'just one' other family, or their grandparents, and they in turn with a few others?

That's the whole problem- people thinking that it's ok for them to make exceptions! Only if everyone is doing it, they aren't really exceptions, are they? Why is your 4 and 5 year-olds' need for wider interaction any more valid than the need to suppress transmission of CV?

Isolation is not meeting up with friends, it’s a scary but boring situation, yes kids will get bored but tough!

I'm from Dublin where they're ahead of us on this They're being advised not to meet up with friends, and to go absolutely nowhere near grandparents. I think we're all in for a very long few months.