Those wanting school open - are you not worried about your DC?

[Hicksville21]

Just that really. Do you not think it’s time to keep our kids home safe until this wave passes?

@Dogsandbabies

Considering out of the 70000 deaths from covid-19 in the uk only 388 were people with no other conditions and under 60, and of those only 44 were below 20, no I am not worried. Not for my children anyway.

Have a look at what counts as an underlying condition:

Accidental fall.
Migraine.
Glaucoma.
Depressive episode.
A fractured bone.
Sleep disorder.

I qualify for about 3 on that list and I’m a fit and healthy 40 year old. Albeit one with a connective tissue disorder so I guess I’m ready to die?

Source

mobile.twitter.com/DrDomPimenta/status/1342960187863425024

Nowhere near as worried as I am about the possibility of schools being closed.

I'm tired of teachers being on the bottom rung of the ladder. They have been on the front line all the way through this. No PPE. No chance of social distancing. Almost as though their lives don't matter. I'm not worried about daughter because we have already had the virus but I'm angry about the way teachers and schools have been treated.

No, I'm not worried about my DC. I'm more concerned about the staff and about myself, as I'm ECV. I'll keep sending my DC for as long as the school is open. They really suffered during the first lockdown. DS was changed overnight when he heard he was going back one day a week for the last 3 weeks of summer term. He was so happy and excited. I never want them to be so isolated and miserable again.

Is that not like asking "those who allow their children to travel in a car, are you not worried about road traffic accidents"?!

I'm not worried for DS, he's more likely to get it from me or DH than nursery, and he's already had it once so chances of reinfection are tiny. That wouldn't come into my opinions on whether schools should be open or not, that should be based on transmission rates and risk to the community , not just my child.

I would much rather my children didn't catch this. Not a good idea to get ill with a novel disease that is poorly understood. There are also some medical vulnerabilities which might make them more vulnerable to it than the average.

I am more concerned about

• me (CEV) or DH catching this and being very ill and the impact on the kids
• me dying and the impact on the kids
• teachers dying/ leaving the profession and the impact on the kids.

Also the whole impact on the country overall of a surge in cases affecting healthcare/ law and order etc

Yes more so because we do not know about this new strain from sa yet and also the fact they could pass it on to others , plus Just because most children are fine you never know who may not be

My son has been damaged by the disruption to his education. He is now no and was just catching up in his last year at infants after always being behind. We try but he does not respond d well to home learning and we struggle for time as we both wft. He was home for a week pre xmass, now is not the time to prioritise pubs over schools - again!

@BunaBoom sure. But how many children do you know with one of these conditions?

In our household we are lucky that none of us have any of the conditions listed. The OP asked if I am worried about my children. And I am not.

Nope, not worried at all. DH and I got covid in November - no idea where from, perhaps from school (we haven’t really been anywhere, tier 3). Either way there’s no way DDs weren’t exposed to it (no symptoms so not tested).

I’m worried about my mum, but she’s now in our bubble and luckily missed our infectious period. It is her decision to take the risk of coming to us, the first lockdown was awful for her (stuck in a flat for 12 weeks).

For those who always use a child’s mental health as a bargaining tool on these threads, I would point out, from personal experience, that it’s significantly more catastrophic for your mental health to lose a parent than to miss school for a period of time. I would imagine the mental health implications are even more terrible if the child is the source of the infection that kills or disables their parent.

It’s also pretty tough on mental health to have your teacher die, or be extremely poorly.

Plus, it’s a pandemic. Schools won’t be shut for shits and giggles. Get some perspective.

No. I think that for most young people and children, the cost to their mental health and to their education is likely to be worse than the risk to their physical health from Covid. I’m a secondary teacher, and a parent. I desperately want schools to stay open.

@ZigZagInToChristmas

Is that not like asking "those who allow their children to travel in a car, are you not worried about road traffic accidents"?!

It is like asking, for the CEV, if you let your innocent children unwittingly point a loaded gun in your direction, are you not afraid it might leave them without a parent?

To be honest, this scenario has probably happened in America...

Not worried at all about covid and my children. This is despite ds 6 being a childhood cancer survivor. Dd 7 had covid in October and it was a high temp with joint pain, earache and headache for 36 hours. Neither coped well being off school and for ds who has LD, autism and EHCP it took a while to get used to school routine again. I am however very, very concerned for my children’s teachers and TA’s and support staff.

@JillGoodacre are you a stay at home mum?

@BunaBoom thats shocking I mean fractured bone ? I always thought underlying condition was things like diebetes , heart failure that kind of thing not a fractured bone or a fall

For those who always use a child’s mental health as a bargaining tool on these threads, I would point out, from personal experience, that it’s significantly more catastrophic for your mental health to lose a parent than to miss school for a period of time

I’m sure it is but The risk of a child a) catching covid at school b) then passing it onto their parent c) that parent then dying, is incredibly tiny.

The risk to a child’s mental health from being isolated and forced to stay at home, forfeit their education, lose any social interaction is far higher. As is the possibility of their parent being unable to work due to it, which could then lead to the loss of the home and ability to put food on the table, or being stuck at home with an abusive family. It is massively concerning.

The virus is pretty much harmless for children. I am a little worried for myself but taking the risk feels like part of being a parent.

I worry more about my DD starting secondary school next year and not being ready education wise. I can't work from home and I hold my hands up for having non patience when it comes to home schooling.

So this thread started out specifically as 'Are you not worried for your children'. Then, when lots of people explained why this was silly, the goalposts shifted to 'Are you not worried your children may infect you'.

Which is a completely different question.

I wonder what percentage actually do any exercise outdoors. I certainly don't.

"For those who always use a child’s mental health as a bargaining tool on these threads,"

The risk of ds losing one of us is very small. The risk of his already diagnosed and medicated mental health issues becoming so severe and his behaviour becoming so unmanageable he needs to be in residential care is much higher.

Tbh no, I'm not so worried for my child as she's obviously very low risk of even developing symptoms. I am worried for her teachers. And my family members who are teachers. I'm also worried for my child if schools don't close - my long hours working from home and suffering mental health due to all this cant make for a very nice home at the moment. There's no perfect, or even easy answer. It's shit.

I'm not worried for my kids. We've had covid in the house, I had it but they never got a symptom. I'm far more worried about their long term mental health being locked in their home for so long. They both struggled massively after the last lockdown and changed in front of my eyes going back to school. My eldest (7) especially became really angry. We are potentially looking at a whole generation who are effected by this long term.

I only have 1 salary coming into the home (single parent) which could leave us not paying our bills if I have to take unpaid leave to stay home with them. It's not free childcare for me, it's putting food on the table and a roof over their heads vs not. There is FAR more at stake here than catching covid.