Are you taking your kids to the park?

[Needausername99]

Parks are open within the rules this time so I have been taking mine but they've been really quiet.

Now we're being told we all need to do more and act like we all have the virus - obviously if this was the case then we wouldn't be going to the park.

So have I been selfish and pushed the boundaries or should I keep on going?!

Yes of course you can take your kids to the park. Hope you have a nice time

Apparently the keeper was putting up notices at our local park yesterday saying the playground was closed? My husband tried to take our 2 yo there and the signs were being put up as they arrived. Park obv still open but playground shut so not sure if this is just a local thing? We are in Suffolk

We have two young children and take them to our village park every day. Sometimes to the one in the next village too, which probably isn't allowed, but we literally do nothing else. I don't think we've seen a single other person there in about two weeks.

Yes, they should never have shut playgrounds in the first place. Kids need to exercise and that's how they do it, run round, maybe use the play equipment, clamber around trees and rocks in the gardens. Gets me out as well whuch i need after working all the time and not being able to go to the gym.

Yes. Children are bearing an awful brunt of a virus that barely affects them. They deserve some small element of normality & fun. I’m so fed up of children’s wellbeing being disregarded as incredibly unimportant in all this. Yes, we need to stop so many dying but that doesn’t mean children’s mental health & wellbeing is just disposable & not to worry about.

We go most days. Usually a few people milling around, my little one always makes friends, it’s nice. In love seeing her carefree.

Yes. Children are bearing an awful brunt of a virus that barely affects them. They deserve some small element of normality & fun. I’m so fed up of children’s wellbeing being disregarded as incredibly unimportant in all this. Yes, we need to stop so many dying but that doesn’t mean children’s mental health & wellbeing is just disposable & not to worry about.

This!

^^ what everyone else has said. I feel the kids are missing out on so much. We travelled nearly every month or two prior to Covid just for a weekend away but mine certainly feel the difference. It’s not in me to deprive them of anything else.

I go to the park every day and fully support this. Empty playgrounds, then fine. Without the more contagious variant I was still going to playgrounds too, especially as so few kids were getting ill, but around here there are now lots of primary students and their families getting ill.

But for the people above like @MoirasRoses - do you not see how your child 'making some friends' while you and other parents mill around the playground only increases the chances of this continuing?

Dd 2 does, I stand outside the only area anyway as we have a dog so I'm well distanced

We took our two DC yesterday. The whole park was empty. An elderly couple stood and stared at us for a good 10 seconds as if to say “what are you doing?”...I just waved politely as it was so awkward. I immediately checked signage to see if I had missed a closure notice, but alas no.

A while later some more people showed up to play and we left soon after.

Yes. They were so miserable last lockdown. They love going to the park and often run around for a good couple of hours. Really lifts their mood. And mine!
We go at least once a week.

Yes, and I let them use the playground too when it's not super busy. I sanitise their hands before and after play and let them crack on. Kids have had the worst deal in this whole crisis, the playground is the only thing left so not a chance will they stop going. The risk is ridiculously small if conscious of hand hygiene. Mine don't do snacking so I don't worry about them ingesting it off their hands before they get home and give them a really good wash with soap and water and they are pro's now at not touching their face.

Given that they are all in FT school and nursery, the park is fine

Every day ! Its freezing and tbh if it was just me I would be home for weeks in the warm , but I'm having enough trouble with ds during this lockdown, it would be the final straw for him if I banned the park too
He is feeling very fragile right now

Yes either the park, woods or beach (very fortunate to live next to the beach) a couple times a week.

Yes, we have a small playground over the road which we go to if it's empty (which it usually is). I took him out of nursery before Christmas and we don't even go to the supermarket at the moment, it's literally the only place we go. Hands sanitised obviously.

I'm avoiding the bigger, more popular playgrounds for now.

I'm taking him to the massive heath/woods near my house most days. At weekends we go to the playpark in our town with DH. And shock horror we buy coffee/hot choc and - whispers - sit on a bench to drink it!

No because he's in keyworker school so doesn't need it during the week, and I avoid it at the weekends by walking in the woods/by the river instead. I wouldn't say never. Just not whilst cases in London are 1 in 20/30.

If he wasn't in key worker school then we probably would, taking precautions and going at quieter times.

Just realised I answered this question last night too!

I was taking my toddler (19months) before schools were closed but now I'm worried they will be too busy. When I did go I usually went before 10 am and he's too small to really use any equipment so just runs around the equipment screaming with happiness

Yes we go to the park daily. So far, since we went into Tier 4 in December it's been either empty, or one other family at most and the parents have all been very good at social distancing. I firmly believe if we don't go out and get fresh air and light we will be in a worse position immunity wise, which won't help if we catch covid, and I can't get the kids to walk any distance in this weather unless there is a park at the end of it.

Yes, to the park, but not to the playground unless there is no one else in there (this is never the case).

@OverTheRubicon

I go to the park every day and fully support this. Empty playgrounds, then fine. Without the more contagious variant I was still going to playgrounds too, especially as so few kids were getting ill, but around here there are now lots of primary students and their families getting ill.

But for the people above like @MoirasRoses - do you not see how your child 'making some friends' while you and other parents mill around the playground only increases the chances of this continuing?

It’s not ‘increasing the chances of this continuing’. There is literally no chance of this not continuing until we have enough people vaccinated to make the burden on services manageable. Even then there’s no chance that the virus itself won’t continue to circulate. We’re far too far in it for slavish rule following to be the way out. People would make it easier for themselves by making their peace with that.

@MiddleParking I mean the lockdown. Of course we're not going to eliminate the virus, but given that so much of the transmission is virtually unavoidable (in hospitals, among people working in necessary environments like supermarkets etc) then the minimum the rest of us can do is try to drop our contacts for a relatively short period to try to get cases down to a point where they reopen schools.

That's why it annoys me - so many of the same parents missing schools and then taking their kids out to the park for 'necessary socialisation'. I'm hardly the covid police nor think it's good to keep kids in, but going on the swings is not a necessity right now, when so.many kids are still in school and still catching it. Sure, if the playground is empty - but not if you have a sociable child who'll make new friends, like many of the PPS here.