How can you do this to your children (and yourselves)?

[endoftheworldaoife]

It has been six months and it's now very clear that covid won't be doing away in our lifetimes. A vaccine won't eradicate it (just as a vaccine didn't eradicate flu).

Most of you seem to be willing to accept social distancing and masks for the foreseeable. And I don't get it. We are a tribal species. We literally die without contact and get sick without communication. Kids are learning arrange, stilted ways of being that will just worsen their digital reliance. OCD is being normalised. Dating will be neurotic and masked. Freshers won't make new loves or lifelong friends like we did. As for their working lives...

I wouldn't mind catching covid (indeed I'm sure we all will sooner or later) so can someone explain to me what on earth is happening in their heads to tip the balance? If it only affected us, I could understand (well, I couldn't but this feels like child abuse on a giant scale).

@endoftheworldaoife
Don’t be so utterly ridiculous - you have no idea what our family has been through in the last 18 months or the risk Covid poses to my husband.

The difference between this and the war is that the war was a proportionate reaction. I don't know how kids come to terms with what has been taken from them. The inequality between generations was already so stark.

I also care more about the recent low prioritisation of children, teens and young adults.

They are low risk and missed a lot. They should have school, university, friends. It is sad when some on here say they don’t need it.

"Living in hope of a vaccine is the act of someone who doesn't fully appreciate that we're not in a blockbuster film and Dustin Hoffman isn't around the corner"

We are not exactly in children of men either but you would think this is some kind of apocalypse with your ranting, OP.

Most of Europe and the US have similar restrictions at present. Have you so little faith in democracies that you think this is a permanent state of affairs?

I'm pretty sure my children would suffer a great deal more if their father and I died or were severely disabled and unable to work again due to covid. They see their friends in school, they hangout online with those from outside school. They're in pretty good shape physically and mentally. Yes things are weird right now, but either it's not forever, or it becomes normal and isn't weird.

Covid19 isn't going to be the last of novel viruses we see. Humans need to make serious changes to their lifestyles and expectations

@BatSegundo

This is a very pessimistic view that I don't share. Yes flu is always with us, but a vaccine means that many people are protected. We also know a lot about flu, have some reasonably effective treatments and worldwide monitoring programmes to try and find and prevent the spread of problematic strains.

Despite this, people die of flu every year, which is very sad. But in much smaller numbers than Covid, because of the above.

If Covid becomes endemic, the same will apply. Once we have a vaccine (seems likely next year) and we have a good understanding of the disease and some treatments (have already made a lot of progress with this) then Covid will finally become just like the flu that so many are keen to compare it to. Yes, some people will still die from it, but we will have done all we can reasonably do to prevent that and so life for everyone else will be back to the usual human soup of parties, hugs and random shags for Freshers.

So spot on and made me happy to read. Couldn’t agree more.

We can live happy lives within the guidelines and keep more people safe and well. My kids are happy but I can see the challenges would be bigger if they were older although I guess then they’d understand more and have their own inventions for making life fun.

Child abuse?! FFS I've heard it all now.

End why do you think we won’t get a vaccine? Of course we can’t rely on it but what do you think the likelihood is?

@endoftheworldaoife

The only alternatives aren't soft social isolation or lockdown, renegade. Both of those things were unthinkable, or should have been.

It's possible to take reasonable measures without ripping the heart out of what it means to be human.

Masks are a sideshow imo. I think forcing them is awful but they're not the core of the problem.

I can't see the point of saving people from death (a tiny number of people) by making life below worth living.

Not to mention the people who will die BECAUSE of restrictions.

Ripping the heart out of what it means to be human? Please listen to your self!

Please also tell me what other reasonable measures there are to combat this. Other than better testing (which i agree has been terribly done by govt and should be much better by now) I don't know how a virus loose in the community can be contained other than limiting that community.

I do speak as someone who struggled in total lockdown. I'm not unsympathetic to people stuggling with the new rules. But largely i think this 'what of the children' stuff is grown ups projecting their fears / worries onto a younger generation who by and large are much more adaptable than their elders.

And the emotive language is really inflammatory. I am not abusing my children or ripping the heart out of anyone by trying my best to navigate a difficult situation and you should not be using that language to express your doubts.

Ultimately I accept this because I don't believe this will be forever. There have been pandemics and plagues throughout history and eventually life has resumed. It may be a couple of years, yes, but I think we'll get there.

There have been plagues and pandemics before. Life has continued eventually. I think

Steeper - no, I don't. But I think it is morally wrong to let your children feel responsible for keeping their dad alive. I mean, pretty appalling, actually. If they did accidentally give it to him how would they ever recover from the guilt?

Totally agree with OP it is a cryung shame and an absolute tragedy on every level. I am more careful than I used to be but the rules make no sense it's like living in some futuristic thriller movie. Sad sad times

I have come to realise the views expressed on MN certainly don't reflect what I'm seeing in reality.

Life is pretty much back to normal.for us. The DC have returned to school and are doing ballet, swimming etc.. They are going to playdates and sleepovers and we're meeting friends for dinner and drinks. We are wearing masks but that's about it.

I think more people are waking up to the fact that life must go on and won't stick to the rules.

Having worked in the MSM in the past I don't believe much of what I read anymore.

Also outside of maybe the 2 week period, most of us are not living in isolation. We are not locked away in solitary confinement and we are not prisoners.

Maybe I've had an exceptionally hard life, but this is not the most difficult thing either myself or my children have lived through

Like @p0rridge, I and most of my friends are following the guidelines and getting on with life, albeit restricted.
All the scientific models allow for the proportion of the population that won't comply, so we will continue to do so to balance you out.
Are your children at school? Genuinely, the kids I have seen there are not traumatised by having to hand sanitise and use only their own pencil and ruler or sit facing the front. They get on with wearing masks on the bus. They walk together into school and chat as normal. As adults, I think our duty to them is to explain then to get on with it. They take their cue from us.

What on earth are you talking about?! We have followed all rules and the DC are perfectly happy. No problems whatsoever with remembering to wear a mask out and social distance. They’re not disturbed by it, they’re happy to do their bit to keep people more vulnerable than them safe.

If you wait a couple of years, there will be no jobs, no schools, no hospitals. We can't exist in a half world.

More people are dying from suicide than covid at the moment.

if I got covid and died I would consider it part of the way the world works

Yeah- I'm sure your children will just shrug it off and be absolutely fine, no problems.

You keep saying what is wrong with the current response - how do you think the whole thing should be handled then OP? What would you plan be if you were in charge?

No offence vashta but when people say "my children follow the rules and are perfectly happy" I don't really have much faith in their empathy towards their children.

Take a look at panorama with children with disabilities. They are suffering and so are their parents.

Hmmm... we are rapidly crossing over into histronics on this thread.

Good luck with your struggles OP, hope it gets better for you

I would tell people to wash their hands, wear a mask if they want, avoid crowded places if they want, withhold approval for large events for a few months, encourage working from home where possible.

And that's it.

The concept of forcible social restrictions is absolutely mind-blowing to me. The Government inflicted severe harm on its population - caused deaths, far more than covid will do in the UK. And most people are still clamouring for more!

I'm hopeful I can leave the UK before the end of the year because I dont see the point of being alive like this. It has been a stark lesson in the smallness of some people's worlds that they don't feel troubled at all.

I mean, how does everyone think world war 2 began?

Won’t anyone think of the children....

Honestly, it’s not the end of the world. My kids are back at school, seeing friends, playing football as normal. Yes the last few months were tricky with homeschool but they are fine now.

Wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t mix in groups over 6.....not especially dramatic restrictions really. And if these inconveniences mean the virus can be slowly managed I’m all for it.

There is a type of person who loves suffering. I guess that accounts for a fair few supporters.

There have been new studies that shows that masks help and may even get us to herd immunity. If everyone is wearing masks, then the viral load being transferred during infections is lowered, enabling most people to deal with the virus without getting very ill.
I think there was an article in the Telegraph yesterday and a YouTube clip by Dr John Campbell earlier this month.
As for the kids, most I know are getting on with things, just with extra hand washing it seems. They’re still getting together with friends, just mainly outside.
Don’t forget what the hospitals were like. We want to avoid that over winter.