Sir Keir Starmer calling for nursery closure!

[Boogie5678]

Sorry I’m not sure how to link this but it’s on BBC news.

@TempsPerdu

Well he’s lost my vote then. Utterly tone deaf to the realities of working parents’ (for which read women’s) lives, not to mention small children’s developmental needs.

DD3 is an only and nursery is currently her only contact with her peers. If they close again I’ll be breaking the rules and risking a fine to enable her to meet up with friends’ preschoolers. I refuse to keep her isolated for months on end again.

It's really short term pain and all that. How can you not see that? Reading comments like yours are scary. It's absolutely views like yours that are driving this pandemic through the roof, surpassing what was seen in Spring.

I am talking as someone who has a 2 year old, no childcare and working from home full time and I'm at breaking point, much less because I have to manage my own situation but because there seems to be no end in sight. We just need to get on with it for the greater good. Are you too selfish to comprehend that?

What’s the point, everybody is classed as a key worker these days anyway so the nurseries will still be probably half full. Like my school 🙄🙄🙄

It is essential they stay open. Yet another reason never to vote Labour. Had Labour chosen a woman there is no way she would be suggesting this. Labour has never chosen a female leader. It is not a party women should support. How sexist. Men do childcare as well you know. At the moment lots of women are in jobs they can't do at home so it is often dad's who are at home with children, my son/SIL can confirm that.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

I’m a childminder, my business won’t survive if I do have to close again. Many nurseries are in the brink. Parents need their childcare to be available from the very day they can go back to work themselves and this work happen if we are forced out of business. It’s a lose lose situation.

My DD works in a nursery and the council have asked them to actively encourage parents to send in their DC or they will face having to close the nursery in April through lack of funding. Surely the correct thing would be to only take in Key Workers DC and for the Government to bridge the difference financially. They have to make the choice now between safety/health and the economy for now and the future if they want their to be childcare options left when this is all over

If they close nurseries there is going to be a lot of busy grannies

But he was calling for pressure to be put on companies to give parents paid leave/furlough without discrimination.

Surely that would help? He’s not just saying ‘shut nurseries and women can suck it up’.

In Germany all parents and carers have been given 10 days paid leave. Why not here?!

@Swissypup

I wish they'd make nursery kids wear masks. I'd be happy with that for ours. Anything to keep them open. If other countries can do it so can we.

The youngest child at my DD’s nursery is 10 months old. You cannot put a 10 month old in a mask.

@Swissypup

I wish they'd make nursery kids wear masks. I'd be happy with that for ours. Anything to keep them open. If other countries can do it so can we.

Really? This isn’t effective for such young children. I agree in primary age 6+ Like in France should be ok unless the child has a reason not to.

@Freddiefox humour me and link the data please as I'm clearly not looking right in the Ofsted or ONS data sets.

The data I've found clearly states that nursery staff are statistically no greater risk than other key workers.

The other most recent (from dec 2020) data I found showed that there were 530ish reports of covid in early years settings. If you compare that to the info on Ofsted that there are 24000 early years settings, so equivalent of 0.02% of settings reporting covid cases.

I'm happy to see data that shows this is incorrect, I get the ONS data every week by email and I still have not seen any data or reports which states nurseries are high risk.

It's really short term pain and all that. How can you not see that?

It’s not short term at all.

Many nurseries shut after lockdown one. The sector is struggling. Many more won’t open their doors after another shut down.

A huge hit to mothers in the workplace

How can you not see that?

@JohnMiddleNameRedactedSwanson

I hope that parents are willing to pay full fees or significant retainers because otherwise there won’t be nurseries to go back to.

If nurseries close then I won't be able to work so won't be able to afford rent and food let alone to pay a retainer to my fantastic nursery. They are quite a big setting who have been open for 30 odd years so I would pray they would be able to survive again but I wouldn't be able to help by continuing to pay for something I can't use.

Cross post with Meredith. Exactly. It’s dangerous for children under 2.

@TheKeatingFive

Well he’s lost my vote then. Utterly tone deaf to the realities of working parents’ (for which read women’s) lives, not to mention small children’s developmental needs

Hardly surprising coming from labour, huh?

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/21/babies-and-children-forgotten-and-failed-in-covid-response-say-health-workers

Please tell me how this is Labour’s fault.

Agree with him. Poor nursery staff.

But he was calling for pressure to be put on companies to give parents paid leave/furlough without discrimination.

Going on furlough puts you at the top of the queue for redundancies. Poisoned chalice if ever I saw one.

@PicsInRed

I expect he also wants border closure (to tourists/bullshit "business" travel, not accompanied freight) to ensure nurseries may reopen and women can get back to work as soon as possible? And all the women working in childcare aren't financially destroyed?

No?

Ah Labour, on the side of women as usual.

THIS!! Fuck Off Keir Starmer. Many women's economic prospects will take years to recover from all this. But who gives a shit about them, eh?

I think there are other areas where we can clamp down before nurseries close. For a start, they can't afford to close. Secondly, no one can work with nursery aged children at home. Their jobs would be jeopardised and we can't afford to support the number of people it would impact.

By all means make sure children aren't there unless they need to be but I'm not convinced they are speading the virus if bubbles are effectively managed.

We need to stop companies making people go to work when they could be at home and look more closely at the shops that are considered essential.

[quote BustopherPonsonbyJones]@MarshaBradyo
If it comes down to it, I would expect the people (father or mother) whose child it is, to make the sacrifice for their child, yes. This could be shared by the mother or father.

No, I would not expect you to pay fees. I would expect nursery staff to be given furlough so the nurseries could open after the pandemic.[/quote]
This is easy to type if you have no idea of reality of what you are suggesting.

Usually it’s people who would have zero intention of following own advice.

Please tell me how this is Labour’s fault.

He’s inviting more cases like this

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/01/baby-drowned-hot-tub-mother-working-home-inquest-hears/amp/

Nurseries are not the same as schools, the bubbles are much smaller and they generally spend a lot of time outside. The average age of the employees is much lower too. It’s not safe for parents to work whilst looking after young children. They should stay open as long as possible, even if it’s at the expense of other areas

@ancientgran

It is essential they stay open. Yet another reason never to vote Labour. Had Labour chosen a woman there is no way she would be suggesting this. Labour has never chosen a female leader. It is not a party women should support. How sexist. Men do childcare as well you know. At the moment lots of women are in jobs they can't do at home so it is often dad's who are at home with children, my son/SIL can confirm that.

Some do yes but what is majority in numbers?

Going on furlough puts you at the top of the queue for redundancies. Poisoned chalice if ever I saw one.

But it shouldn’t and that can be enforced with anti-discrimination measures. Why is it women who always have to take on the extra load, suffer financially and mentally? It’s enough.

How sexist. Men do childcare as well you know.

Noting reality is not sexist. At my work half the men have ostentatiously blocked out diary time for "home schooling" or "childcare". NONE of the women have. Why do you think this is?
I think it's because men are able to be seen to do their bit, and women know that if they said to their boss that they were spending 4 hours home schooling in work hours, their promotion would never be happening. We do not operate on an even playing field. Ever heard of the second shift? Women statistically do FAR more than their fair share of domestic labour across the board. And they are penalised more for trying to be flexible.
That's just a fact.

But it shouldn’t and that can be enforced with anti-discrimination measures.

Lol. Meanwhile, in reality,

@AgnesNaismith

But he was calling for pressure to be put on companies to give parents paid leave/furlough without discrimination.

Surely that would help? He’s not just saying ‘shut nurseries and women can suck it up’.

In Germany all parents and carers have been given 10 days paid leave. Why not here?!

Furlough or paid leave is only an option if there isn't work that needs to be done - otherwise what is the employer supposed to do without their staff? And 10 days is laughable, as is the idea that this is 'short term' - if nurseries shut tomorrow when would you expect them to be safe to open again, and what would have to happen for that? Because there isn't a sensible answer that doesn't lead to the conclusion that they'd be shut for months, again.