Is anyone worried about their primary-age child?

[pistachionuts]

My son is 9 and seriously seems to be struggling mental health wise as the pandemic has dragged on, and seems to be getting worse :( he never had any problems before, was always a happy easy well-rounded child who has now transformed into an anxious boy who loses his temper quickly, cries easily and is always getting stressed and angry.
He hates homeschooling and it’s an absolute struggle trudging through all the work school sets whilst he rubs his eyes and fidgets and stares at the laptop, he always plods on and finishes it but has little motivation and no enjoyment.
I’m trying everything I can to try and make the time at home as nice as possible but there’s only so much I can do.
Is anyone else finding this with their children? He’s like a completely different person im so sad and worried :(

Well, I just feel glad at the minute that this thread was made
I feel slightly less alone at this shitty time
And that has actually made me feel a bit relieved almost

Me too. I feel like everyone I talk to will pay lip service to the fact it's not ideal but don't feel as frustrated as I do. Well, of course not, all of their kids are in school so it obviously not as big of a deal for them!

I am so glad to read this thread, everyone else I know has their kids in school, childcare bubbles all sorted etc, I was beginning to think I had imagined the lockdown as felt so alone in being home with my children!

I’m really sorry to hear about these young dc

So hard

I think having a three year old and 11 year old means the middle age is missed. But I can see how hard it is on younger years

Especially when their friends are together. One thing that has helped here is that school has been so strict it’s tiny bubbies (6) with TA only

I have watched my kids regress, my five year old have nightmares, get clingy, get angry, bite and cry. Totally out of character. I am a very positive person. My two year old has massive speech delay and does not know any different from this awful isolation.The school whatsapp and my other mum whats apps all report the same with their 5/6 year olds.

I keep saying this on threads, but if you are a woman of a certain age, have grown up kids or worse no kids, you are terrified of covid and happy to sacrifice the well-being of children so you can feel safe, kindly fuck off threads written by parents worried about kids. I don't want to hear about resilience and your WW2 and your sacrificing bollocks. We are worried about our children and need to share it.

It’s having an awful impact on children. I have no issues with parents meeting up to let the children play together. Tbh my priority in life is my child’s well-being, not potentially saving the lives of a bunch of 80+ year olds who are most likely going to die in the next 5-10 years anyway and probably suffer a really horrible drawn out death (and I’m talking years..) from Alzheimer’s or similar. I recognise most people don’t feel that way but I do. Average age of Covid death in the UK is 82.4 years. Average UK life expectancy is 81.... Go figure. And we’re destroying our children for this?? It’s nothing short of criminal. Goodnight!

I keep saying this on threads, but if you are a woman of a certain age, have grown up kids or worse no kids, you are terrified of covid and happy to sacrifice the well-being of children so you can feel safe, kindly fuck off threads written by parents worried about kids. I don't want to hear about resilience and your WW2 and your sacrificing bollocks. We are worried about our children and need to share it.

Totally agree.

My ds aged 8 is very up and down and desperate to be at school. He had a horrendous time in the last lockdown, uncontrollable crying and saying he wanted to die because there was nothing to look forward to.
We ended up buying a static caravan and spent most of August there. He was able to play freely with other kids and the change in him was massive.
My 4 year old likes being at home but I worry about his progress with reading, social interaction, school routine, friendships etc all being interrupted. Keep telling myself that his older brother was not at school yet at his age and it'll be ok.
Kids have been so forgotten in this, still can't believe the playgrounds took so long to reopen.
I'm not saying immediately reopen schools but some acknowledgement of the impact would be nice

Yes totally

@alfieum absolutely! Mumsnet really needs to change its name if I'm honest.

I've seen posters quite gleefully pointing out that they would save a 90 year old over a 5 year old if they were both drowning on here.

Dd 9 is exactly the same. She’s waking multiple times at night and struggles to fall back to sleep. She’s constantly worried about everything, catching covid, her teeth falling out etc. She complains of a tummy ache. She’s also become worryingly picky with food, then when she does it she never eats a full portion. This lockdown can’t end soon enough IMO. I fear we’ll see a huge spike in mental health conditions which will be felt for years to come.

I’m glad mine is 10 so able to play online with his friends nearly the whole class play on it and they chat a lot, Even with the one who has moved to a different continent. We tried to avoid it at the beginning and DS was really struggling lots of cuddly, tears, bad sleep etc, it’s not perfect now but at least we’re coping. He still can’t wait to go back. One good thing is I get to see his work and the feedback. I can also find out where he’s struggling and focus on it with him. It’s even harder with the ones with no form of interaction. I just hope they all bounce back.

Other than missing friends he is doing much better at home. He needs a lot of direction and one to one and is very easily distracted. He’ll probably have his best grades yet this year. He’s been home since March and doing well, seems to be less stressed. Still does get distracted and I often find him in the kitchen or playing with our preschooler when he should be on a zoom. He gets in person interaction at his sport weekly.

Eldest is 10 and coping well, but youngest is 5 and really struggling. She's tearful and anxious. I don't know how to make things better for her, it breaks my heart.

My 9 year old has developed severe anxiety and has started exhibiting sequencing behaviour. She is struggling really bad we have a referral to Camhs. I just hope they help her. She is ordinarily a happy go looking child. She had been forgotten in this pandemic and will spend the rest of her life paying for it. It is sad very sad.

@HerRoyalNotness
Are you based in England? What sport is your son playing that's allowed to go ahead? All of my daughters extracurricular activities have moved online which does not suit her at all

We had an ok day today but yesterday I was at the brink of madness. My poor girl was so so sad and, we are ignoring my two year old while we work and home school. I lay in bed last night thinking if I wasn't pregnant I would have been worried about drinking myself into oblivion.

@SnowyOwl199

I forgot to say she isn't sleeping either. Waking up all the time saying she's scared and has tummy ache (I think it's anxiety) and needs to be constantly reassured.

Obviously not glad anyone else's child is suffering too but just glad to hear we aren't alone in it.

Our 8 year old DD is exactly the same, can’t sleep and always saying she has a tummy ache. She’s sleeping with us some nights. She’s ok during the day, maybe everything seems worse at night, like it does for adults sometimes.

[quote DancingQueen85]@HerRoyalNotness
Are you based in England? What sport is your son playing that's allowed to go ahead? All of my daughters extracurricular activities have moved online which does not suit her at all[/quote]
In the US. We’re playing but non contact. Lots of contact sports are going ahead though. They just had the school district football finals at a big stadium last week with cheerleaders and all

Could have written this post myself.
8 year old in year 3. Tantrums tears anxiety rage.
Its heartbreaking.
Totally agree with @laidbacklife earlier in post

@Backhometothenorth gosh that sounds really extreme and hard
Poor you and daughter

My ten year old is falling apart .. just three weeks before we went into
Lockdown last year she was given the all clear after battling a bone tumour in her leg for two years . She’d missed out on so much and we went home and planned all the things she’d missed out on ,then lockdown happened. She has slowly withdrawn into herself , she cries and shows little enjoyment in anything, she improved when school returned in September but was still anxious, we thought 2021 would be better, now she’s crying her eyes out asking if she’ll ever see her friends again before she leaves primary school in July .. she’s lonely and miserable .she doesn’t want to sit and work at home ..
I don’t know what to do , I feel completely heartbroken for her

Can you pair up with another family and do childcare swaps? I have a friend who does alternate days with her neighbour so the kids do home schooling together then play.
Make use of the childcare bubble option.
Get outside and "bump into" friends.
I have bent the rules in order to look after my children's mental health and I don't regret it at all.

It makes me really angry to be honest
Not at any one person but it really makes me angry that this is happening!

Glad to find this thread but sad so many other children are in difficulty.

My 10 year old has always been a bit moody and volatile but lockdown has taken it to a new level. Today was terrible she was screaming when we went over her maths which had some mistakes. She hates TEAMS calls and won't engage with any video from the teacher.

I think it's a crossing of boundaries for her in some way. Like the teacher is coming into her safe place at home?? It terrible. I was in tears today and then I had my own work meetings.

Meanwhile her sister is a year older and coping fine.

Reassured in some way that we are not alone .