Toddlers and social distancing

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

Having followed guidelines to the letter I took my toddler DD to the park this morning to have a run round with her friend. Although DD's friends mum and I observed social distancing, our two DD's didn't and I'm now feeling anxious. How do I get toddlers to observe social distancing????

You don’t, they are toddlers and simply don’t understand - you can try but that would be very unfair and unnecessarily distressing for them. What’s the point in letting her see her friend if they can’t play together properly? Just wait.

You can't. We have been doing the same as you. Letting the kids play together, adults social distance.

You don't.
I have a friend coming this week in garden. We will SD. The kids won't they're 2. They will go in pool together no doubt. I'm sure the chlorine will kill their germs if there's any. Lol

I feel just the same op, had my mil round this morning after 10 weeks of not seeing her, fully intended to social distance but my 2 yo had other plans. To start with mil kept running away but dd was becoming distressed and in the end it went out the window. I think be sensible but god knows you can only control so much and the rest you cant. MIL is a nurse so has been working, me and dd have been in house and haven't seen anyone.

...but following on I now feel really anxious too despite it being a wonderful morning for both dd and mil!

You don’t. You wash their hands and let them play like toddlers should, and try not to give them any weird hang ups about coronavirus.

It’s a confusing time to know what is the best thing to do. Is it better to just not Olmert people at the moment with children who can’t socially distance? It’s a Shane this hasn’t been covered in a briefing

Olmert??? Wtf is Olmert??? I meant met!!!

My 3 year old has gone back to nursery this morning. There is no social distancing between the kids. Its impossible. The adults are social distancing and parents are at drop off and pick up but that's all. Strict hand hygiene at nursery and at home. They need to play and socialise.

You either find a way to get them to social distance or you keep them away from anyone outside of the household (with the only exception being structured childcare that has particular measures in place with regards to contact tracing and in which it can easily be established which children have come into contact). It is time that the police had this as one of their priorities when enforcing the restrictions as it will almost certainly be the major cause of any second wave based on how many are ignoring the rules.

If the guidelines for early years state they don’t expect toddlers to socially distance in nursery/reception then in my opinion they don’t need to socially distance when seeing friends/family. In particular those who don’t go to nursery etc, they need to socialise. For a virus that doesn’t much affect them (except in rare cases), it is cruel to keep them socially isolated. This is a crucial time in their development. It makes me so frustrated people to think it’s fine to keep children at home with no interaction with anyone else.. it’s been 11 weeks. That’s enough. No-one also seems to consider the only children or children with baby siblings like mine. She’s got no other child to play with. And it’s made her miserable.

Just focus on good hand hygiene!

@Bol87 I don’t think that’s a fair assumption to take. Nursery’s are open to facilitate the economy, and they will have strict protocols in place.

Just because you use nursery doesn’t mean if you see family your risk isn’t increased. It is. It is substaintally increased. And this then increases the risk for all of the friends and staff at nursery too.

@Bol87 just to add. I think its important point you make about socialisation. It’s just a confusing time trying to balance the risks when we aren’t experts in this field

It’s impossible to enforce social distancing with toddlers - not to mention cruel. As several pps have mentioned, this is a vital time for their social development and they need meaningful interaction with their peers for brain development to be optimal.

DD2 is an only child. She’s been isolated from her peers for 10 weeks, which is long enough - we’re now letting her play normally with her friends in the park and she’s returning to nursery this week.

It's not possible and frankly not necessary to make toddlers socially distance. We have let toddlers play together while adults stayed 2m apart. For us the social and emotional benefit was worth the small riskm

It is manageable if you go for a walk with toddlers strapped in buggies or carriers but I am also of the view that forcing toddlers to socially distance is unnecessary