To resent parents who are still sending their kids to school on Monday

[letmeinthroughyourwindow]

Not the genuine cases, obviously.

But I'm a teacher and we will be opening for the duration because 40% of our pupils have at least one parent who is a keyworker.

Before the list was released, the government told us to expect 10% and we planned accordingly. In fact, we planned for 20%.

When the list was released, it was so broad that far more parents than we ever expected fell into one of the categories.

Now, if your need is genuine then of course I want to care for your child. I'm happy to do it, and proud that doing so keeps you working.

But we have so many parents who are allowed to send their child to school, but shouldn't be, that it's infuriating me.

If you are a keyworker but your partner is a stay-at-home parent should you be sending them in?

If you are a keyworker but your partner works from home or is allowed to work from home indefinitely, should you be sending them in?

My sister's employer is allowing all employees who are parents to work from home on full pay, but many are saying that they don't need to, because their partner is a keyworker so their kids can still go to school

Just because you can send them, doesn't mean you should. It shouldn't be the best or easiest option for you, it should be a last resort if there is nowhere else to keep them safe.

The number one, most critical piece of advice for keyworker parents is, 'if it is at all possible for children to be kept at home then they should be.'

Please don't think I'm lazy and cba babysitting these children. I cried when my class went home yesterday, and care about every child in school. If I am in work full time anyway, then it really doesn't matter how many children are in the classroom.

But so many people don't understand social distancing. They are walking around like they are immortal, or only thinking that they themselves will probably be ok if they get it. For social distancing to have the desired effect, then everyone who can be at home, should be. If there was a chance of your child dying from this, would you send them to school? Well then think about who might die because they came into contact with your child.

And all of this brought on by a friend who called me last night to say that she is thrilled to be able to send her child to school on Monday because she is a deliveroo driver, even though her unemployed bf will be home all day on the PlayStation.

"But you are being hugely unreasonable by assuming someone who works from home can look after a child."

I wonder what people who WFH are doing in all of those other countries where schools have completely closed?

People are reluctant to make their lives difficult, and are prolonging this for all of us.

@Dawnofanewmillenium you literally have no idea how unsustainable single handedly looking after a complex SEN child who doesn't sleep is (alongside her also SN and medical issues sibling) long term. Decision was made to keep a younger child safe and to prevent either entering the care system. There aren't the resources for community based restbite. Doesn't make someone a bad parent or that the children would be better off removed but yes school is a literal lifeline in the current climate. School would rather prioritise a child like mine than people taking advantage of the one key worker/another a stay at home parent scenario which they have a lot of.

I agree. It's totally defeating the object.

@Fedupandpoor your DS can go for his benefit, not yours. So his social & emotional development can continue to improve.

FML!! Are you actually deranged? I'm sorry if your child has SEND, or if he has challenging behaviour. But this is YOUR child.

I care deeply about the welfare of other people's children, but I'm a teacher .. not a hero (despite what the end of term mugs say!)

@CleanUpWoman - I honestly think that we would be better off losing the proportion of NHS staff that have 0-10 year old children than putting them together in settings like this. I am very sorry for the position you are in.

@EggysMom

Ever tried to WFH with a demanding toddler? Or with a child with ASD or ADHD? Not every child can happily occupy themselves. WFH is non-productive under such circumstances, you may as well not work.

Funnily enough yes I have, as have many other parents.

This is an unprecedented highly lethal pandemic, what the fuck is wrong with you?

What will it take for these unspeakably selfish people to understand?

People are reluctant to make their lives difficult, and are prolonging this for all of us.

And curtailing it sharply for others. Maybe the death of someone you know. When the death rate starts to jump remember how you couldn’t wfh with a child.

Please let me say this.

Now is the time for good enough parenting. It does not matter if they are not sitting at the table dutifully working out maths equations. It doesn’t matter if they spend the day watching TV and messing about on iPads. It doesn’t matter at all.

You are risking lives. Stop it. It is selfish and hideous for your child and for everyone.

To be resentful of those children is wrong.

Don't twist it. No one is resentful of the children. They're resentful of their selfish parents - the adults!

YADNBU, but I can kind of understand those that are self employed wanting to work as long as they can (if they've no one else at home to look after their children) as the government 'help' fucks them over. Employed people get 80% of their monthly wage, self employed get £94pw.

Who can live on £94pw?

@MrsMcTeacher what are you confused about? I've been perfectly clear.

This policy is to help and encourage those who can help the country. If a nurse can either work & send her kids to school, or not work because her boyfriend is a dickhead and she doesn't want to leave them with him, then it's much better for everyone for her to send them to school. Because we need nurses. We need doctors. We need supermarket staff. Just like we need teachers. We need them to do their job.

I'm a teacher but pregnant so WFH, but there is no way I can actually do my job and look after him.

As a teacher, this is absolute bollocks and I’m ashamed to read this on behalf of our profession.

School is not a lifeline, donkey, it’s a deathline.

If you think the government are being kind in allowing her to go, you are deluded. They don’t give a fuck about you or your child.

At the moment, we don’t need teachers. We just need DBS checked adults to keep a half eye on the children of selfish people.

I think people will look back on this time and cringe that they put their child in harm's way unnecessarily, that they bragged about still going to the pub, that they simply had to keep going to the gym because they needed it for their own well-being.

And for the few who keep saying that teachers are lazy : most of us are volunteering to be there, increase our hours, work through the holidays, extend the school day in some cases.

And then taking it all home to our own families.

We're not lazy we just don't want it to all be for nothing. We just want it to fucking work.

I can bet your bottom dollar that the only nhs children who will be in are those who have literally no other options. You would think others would take heed!

YANBU

I am a key worker. DH is not and can wfh so we are not sending the children to school. They will be more at risk of catching it as I am frontline NHS so I don’t want to increase their risk or the risk of spreading this by sending them in.

Thank you teachers also

It might be hard to WFH with a child but by the time you realise that was preferable to the scale of deaths that you will have helped cause (lots of those being the NHS staff at the frontline) it will be TOO LATE.
Keep your children home you utter eejits

@Dawnofanewmillenium but a lot of kids with complex sen won't sit and watch tv or play on their tablet. Life would be bliss if they did. A lot of kids with SEN need pretty much 24 hour supervision to keep them alive because they have no concept of safety. They can defeat just about every home safety device leaving the only option being explicit direct supervision for near enough 24 hours a day.

"I'm a teacher but pregnant so WFH, but there is no way I can actually do my job and look after him."

You are an embarrassment.

I'm a school cleaner and have no idea what Monday will bring.
Head said yesterday morning he was expecting around 30 children, but I believe it may have risen since then.
We are down to two cleaners as the others are deemed high risk of serious illness if they catch it.
It's just a continuous rota of sanitising touch points as well as keeping up with the usual jobs we do. We just won't find it easy doing it all day every day.

I'm surprised at this because by the end of the week, numbers were down to around 60% already, due to parents (including me) deciding that that they would keep their DC home early, once the government announced closures, seeing as they were able to.
DH is a teacher but I'm on maternity leave and freelancing, so homeschooling two DC of different ages is not the easy option, but the whole point is limiting contact as much as possible.
It seems obvious to me that the longer the masses carry on as normal, the longer we will have to do this for.

Deal with it then donkey. I’m talking generally. Deal with it. Stop risking everybody’s life.

At the moment, we don’t need teachers. We just need DBS checked adults to keep a half eye on the children of selfish people.

I can't believe I am actually planning to volunteer to work, put my family at risk, to save people like this.