Effect of lockdown on Scottish teenagers

[Allnamesaregone]

How are your teens coping?
The prolonged lockdown is not good for them. For older teenagers their friends are the most important thing. Not being able to socialise properly, or to have the routine of school, facing the fact that exam grades aren’t going to be what you expected because you were leaving it to the last minute - it’s really tough for them. And lockdown is going on so long....

Frankly I would have expected my children to understand why lockdown is important and use the internet to maintain contact with their friends. I find it difficult to understand parents who have no control over their offspring.
When out on essential travel I am horrified at the hoards of teenagers who have clearly been allowed out to meet their friends.
Time for parents to do some parenting.

Mine have obeyed all the rules of lockdown. Not sure why you’re ranting as that was it the question 🤨

We all understand why it’s important to stay in. That is not being debated.
Lockdown is tough on teenagers.

That first answer was a bit unnecessary 😳

I’ve got a 15 yo and she’s ok, but she should be more than ok. She’s a laid back wee thing but this is hard. She’s done everything she’s asked to the letter and not complained once but I worry about her.

The exams, the only good thing is they’re all in the same boat I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mine’s the same @RJnomore1 but he’s much quieter than usual.

I'm ill n Roi and now allowed meet in groups of 6 so a bit easier.
During total lockdown they snapped facetimed played games on line to stay in touch.
They need to socialise for their mental health if no one in house has to isolate I would let them out at this stage In a small group.

I worry she’s on her own too much, but then making her sit with us isn’t what she needs to sort that 😟

She’s resilient but more fragile children will be seriously damaged, I can see how it works.

My eldest has struggled. Online contact just isn't the same. He fully understands why we are doing this, but still misses his friends and his sports. They were important to him. He then feels guilty for being sad about missing these. We have talked a lot about how it's ok to be sad about missing stuff, and that us adults are missing things too.

He really struggled in the beginning - didn't want to get out of bed and wasn't contacting his pals. On speaking to my pals, their kids were the same.

Now we can meet outdoors with one other household, he's a changed kid as he's been able to see his pal albeit socially distanced.

And as to the first reply 🙄. Did you ever think that just maybe the parents of the kids you are seeing might be working?? And with no option of clubs/sports/family members watching out for them they might be making stupid decisions that their parents don't know about? Or should they give up
Work?

Can't they meet now but social distance -pretty sure they will be doing that now - and probs even before.

Channeling children and young people onto the internet seems to be the general direction this is going in...

Keep them subdued, shy, fat and indoors. A global strategy.

In Scotland you can now meet 1 other household when out, and have one other household in your garden but not in the house.
DS has been out on his bike a lot, but up until last week it was by himself. He met up with a mate last week for a cycle but when you compare an hour or so of company with the amount of time they would normally be with mates it’s a small fraction.

My 14 year old is amazing but he’s starting to struggle now.

I hope in a few years at the ballot box he won’t forget how badly and unnecessarily he was let down by our governments.

And esspee- shut up. I’m very rapidly getting to the point our kids have gone through enough proportionate to the risk of the virus.

@SudokuBook my thoughts exactly.

I think it’s not on that a whole generation of kids are being thrown under the bus for a disease that largely kills over 75 year olds. Not that that don’t matter, but they’re at more risk of dying of any cause, just due to their age.

We're in Wales and still essentially in lockdown. I have 2 teens and a 21yo.
They're coping with FaceTime but it's far from ideal.
They've not been out yet to meet friend.
My 21yo does not have friends within 5 miles so completely stuck.

DD is late teens and coping surprisingly well and I have been impressed with her maturity, considering we were often at each other's throats before lockdown that is a bit of a miracle.

I am in the shielding group and I worry that she worries about me too much and it will lead to too much restriction in her life. She was invited round by her friend to sit in the garden but declined because she was worried about catching the virus and passing it on to me. She did have her friend round and they sat in my garden, another friend came round and they had a chat on the doorstep and she dropped a birthday gift round to the same friend but I am worrying about her lack of real life interaction with people.

She has finished her college year online but is now bored knowing she has nothing to fill her time until college goes back and she worries about what it will be like then.

I know a lot of kids are now meeting their friends and to be honest I can't blame them since lockdown has really taken its toll on a lot of them.

My Daughter is 18 and lives with her boyfriend and his brother.
She's managed better than I'd thought she would, given she has HFA and PDA.
@Esspee I'd like to see you parent a child like her, she's fabulous, but does exactly what she wants to.

Anyway, they've been cooking and baking a lot, yesterday they made PB&J Bakewell tart from scratch, they go out on long walks, or bike rides on the hired bikes in Glasgow.
I've let her come over 3 times in 12 weeks, sometimes she needs her Mum.
All in, I'm very proud of her.

To add, I'm shielding.

They're going to be a lost generation: the ones who were planning to leave school after GCSE/standard grades and will now never have sat a formal qualification; the ones who were planning the latter but might have pleasantly surprised themselves and decided to stay on have lost that opportunity; the teens who now won't go to university because they can't defer their place but the fees are a lot for an online experience without the social / independent living aspect; the teens for who life was hard enough and needed their friends to get them through; the teens for who friendship groups were fickle or delicate and now don't know their place because they've struggled without face-to-face friendships; the teen who was always on the cusp of the group so now doesn't meet the number allowed for a group meetup so is still at home alone; a generation already struggling to know what their prospects were who are now trying to navigate a job / housing market that may be unrecognisable.

• and that's just what comes to mind now. So posters like Esspee need to have a think about how it's possible to follow restrictions whilst also being mindful of the negative effects of them.

It is so hard on the young people,they have been so badly affected,i just hope its not irrevocable

I really wonder if it has been worth it

Older teens (adults) can't be told what to do

I encouraged and drove my teen to a field yesterday to play football with his friends and I doubt they were socially distancing. I'm hoping to do the same again today.

He has done enough and sacrificed everything for long enough - 14 and scarcely getting any education from his private school, and playing too long on his computer games. Doubtless this is all my fault for being a shit DM, but R rate is driven by hospitals and the care homes fiasco. If I can now wander round a garden centre along with elderly people who are much more at risk, then my DS can play football outside with his pals.

Mine are starting to struggle. My 15 year old missed his GCSEs. He gets no school work. He plays on the PlayStation all day and just comes down for meals. He is talking to his friends all day on it, so we don't want to stop that, but I'm worried he is addicted and will struggle to go back to normal life. He has no intention of meeting up with anyone. I insist he goes out for a walk every day which he does do but only when I tell him to. He has had a couple of melt downs when due to do his weekly zoom guitar lesson, like total freak outs about it. He just doesn't want to do anything. We were playing cards and board games after dinner for a while but he has gone off that too. We've just started a new no devices in the morning rule so hope we can get him.back on the straight and narrow a bit with that.
Our 13 year old is doing better but also not himself. Having school work to do every day is a good thing for him, but he needs motivating and pushing to do it. He is sporty and has joined the golf club with his dad, they go and have a round every couple of days which has been brilliant for him. The thing that worries.me with him is that he has always been so sociable but now he doesn't seem to be talking to his friends. He is on Snapchat groups and he sees the.messages but says he doesn't want to join in. There's a girl he has got close to over lockdown and I've heard him chatting to her but none of his buddies, and again no desire at all to see them.
Me and my DH are going back to work next week and I'm worried about the pair of them. I'll be home one day a week other than that they'll be left to their own devices, which will mean likely one on the PlayStation and one on the computer...

I have two teenagers, one has just finished S3 and the other one S5.

S5 very worried about Higher results as he was on course for good grades but had a poor prelim result in one of his subjects and is concerned that will affect the grade. He is missing everything he usually does - volunteering every saturday afternoon, dungeons and dragons with his friends at least twice a week. going into the geek store place to paint those little warhammer figures and play some sort of game, driving lessons. His entire life is on hold.

My younger one has seen her friends throughout for socially distanced chats, one sitting on the kerb on one side of hte road, the other sitting on the opposite kerb. In the last week she's been out with them skateboarding. But every day we here "I'm bored" and "when will I be able to..."

Biut it's the education which is the worst bit. they are both at a very good state school but the provision has been desperately bad. No online teaching whatsoever as the Council have banned it. They have a 1990s style bulletin board where they can log in and leave messages for teachers, who may or may not reply. Work given out, do it if you can but we won't mark it or give feedback on it. Older child doing advanced highers in science - we don't have anywhere near the level of knowledge to support that.

However cases in scotland are falling quickly and hopefully by August there will be zero justification for them going back to school full time.

www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/

Sockyarn I really wish schools could go back as normal next term, but even if there are no new cases and no deaths in the weeks beforehand, I fear it's too late and this madness of "blended learning " will still go ahead.