So it looks like we're being prepared for children not to go back until after Easter

[choosingcrumble]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/children-face-months-at-home-as-schools-stay-shut-until-easter-wp5ltpm82?fbclid=IwAR1l0gRSzuJLIv508reRmBEojbYfoGOsWwe3_pBFmKpA4EbI1IgC5dKC2uE

I suspected it wouldn't be until then, let's just hope that it doesn't stretch into the summer.

Looking a the Sunday Times article, I am holding out hope that schools will partially reopen before Easter. Maybe primary schools and exam years first. Maybe some sort of rota system. Surely by March, assuming the lockdown and vaccinations continue, the case numbers and numbers in hospital will have dropped by so much that they won’t be able to justify keeping schools closed any longer.

• @formerbabe
  Interesting that second wave started week after schools all went back full time. Certainly something to consider*

Or maybe because September is traditionally the beginning of 'flu season' when viruses are rampant. Something else to consider perhaps?

I’ve been thinking everyone will need to move back a year, from colleges to reception. How on earth else will lost content be caught up?

Oh dear. have a think about it then come back with the one HUGE problem with that crack pot idea

I think it's really tough on kids tbh even if you forget the educational element. The freedom to socialise, play, do sports etc. it's sad.

Teachers who are vulnerable to dying will fall into one of the priority vaccination groups

Pregnant teachers won’t.

I don’t think teachers should be vaccinated before other more vulnerable groups, BUT a lot of school staff are women of childbearing age. Opening with no mitigations - like there are in other public facing professions - on the basis of staff being vaccinated would not solve this staffing issue.

Or maybe because September is traditionally the beginning of 'flu season' when viruses are rampant

Oh of course. That rapidly climbing trend in Covid from 1800 at start of September to 33000 in November was...er...because of 'flu season'

Yes but also from this thread it's difficult not to wonder how many are actually projecting their anxiety on to their DCs and stressing them out? I don't see this level of stressing and anxiety amongst the parent group of my DCs primary irl. And we've been the second worst hit borough in the country. It's off the scale here.

It has been gone over before but its important to remember that Mumsnet is an outlet for people. The reason lots of posters are ranting here is because they are holding it together for their children. You've no idea that those people who appear calm in your primary group aren't coming on here to scream into the abyss. We all need to put our stress and anxiety somewhere and that's why people are doing so here rather than letting it affect their children.

But they can't do that because of children with SEN or other medical reasons.
Also I wear a mask for 7 hours at work and every day without fail it makes me feel like I'm going to be sick.
I wonder if people suggesting kids wear masks would be happy to wear one for 6+hours a day.

I'm not suggesting for a minute that we sacrifice the elderly or anything like that, but we really do need to invest substantial resources in children and young people after this to fix the damage repeated lockdowns have caused to their health and life prospects. We have shut down schools and the economy largely to protect over-60s and the minority of under-60s who are vulnerable. That is clearly the right decision. What is not the right decision is to leave those who are struggling as a result of this shutdown to fend for themselves. Where it is children and families, this is especially shortsighted since the problems caused now will persist for many years. All this nonsense about "parents chose to have children so they're their problem" ignores the fact that it is society as a whole which will pay for our failings in years to come. There are the victims of Covid but there are also the victims of lockdown.

@ParadiseLaundry

* *@formerbabe* Interesting that second wave started week after schools all went back full time. Certainly something to consider*

Or maybe because September is traditionally the beginning of 'flu season' when viruses are rampant. Something else to consider perhaps?

This ain’t actually true, cases began to increase in august. There were loads of mixed households doing eat out to help out and in the pubs. Social distancing between groups but not within them so people sitting right next to each other.

Children are not going to become obese and get ill from lack of fresh air, just for the sake of an extra couple of months lockdown. And a whole generation of children are not going to be failed, and be scarred for life mentally and physically. Children are more resilient than us adults, and will bounce back just fine. It’s the parents who will be quivering wrecks in therapy at the end of it. Children live in the moment, and may express their frustration that they can’t hang out with friends etc, but will have forgotten once normality returns.

[quote ihearttc]@Nonamesavail

I honestly think some people can’t see past their own situation. It’s hard for everyone I get that. I have a 10 year old as well and it’s pretty shit for him too but at least he’ll get a chance to do his exams, play sport, have a prom and actually have a decent end to High School when he gets there. Younger children will catch up. And I speak as a TA saying that. It might take longer but for the most part they will get there. Exam years are not going to get this time ever again and that coupled with the pressure of not knowing what exam plans the Government is planning is absolutely destroying them.[/quote]
I agree. There are no winners in this no matter how old they are but some school years will be able to make it back up.
The older ones and exam years can not.
I have a Y13 who has had 2 broken years of 6 form, stuck at home with us and has applied to uni to start in Sept moving away from home. They have missed not only all this vital schooling and are worried about exam grades and meeting conditional offer but also missed the vital independence and growing they do post 16, what a massive jump to uni and to move away and live independently !

One of the things that worries me about this (beyond the obvious education and mental health repercussions) is that we know obesity is one of the key factors in how well/badly people deal with covid after age.
And all of our children (who aren't in school) are now doing considerably less exercise than they were a year ago. ALL of the secondary age children I know have put on weight and/or lost muscle tone over the last year. They have gone from almost constantly moving to pretty much living the sedentary life of your average office worker.
There are no sports clubs, swimming, dance etc. No walks to/from school or the bus stop. No walking to meet friends and mooch around town.
My yr8 used to swim regularly, dance, PE 2/3 times a week, all day moving around the school etc etc. Now she does essentially nothing. She's allowed out for a walk/run once a day - except she has lessons during daylight hours so I have to practically force her to come out and walk a daily Mile with me. I'm under no illusions that if she were 15/16/17 the chances I could make her do that if she didn't want to are pretty slim. She's lost most of her muscle tone from exercise - no more abs for me to be jealous of - and put on weight. She's lucky that she was very slim before so she's still not overweight but it still can't be great for her health.
Some of my friends kids have put on a LOT of weight. Not because they're lazy but because they've nothing to do to burn off energy!

My little two are still at nursery/school (2 KW) and one of the biggest complaint I'm hearing from their friends parents who are wfm/homeschooling is that their sleep has gone to shit - everyone knows how full of energy little kids are, they've nowhere to put it. So they're not tired. So they are sleeping less.

All of these things are not something that children can just bounce back from - they will have longer term affects.

It's a crazy mixed up world when we're facing a virus that generally affects larger and unhealthy people worse and countering it by essentially forcing our young people to stop the majority of things they can do to enhance their physical health... what happens if we get a variant that does affect children and young people? We've set large numbers of them up to get it worse, haven't we?

@wellardwoof What a disgusting comment.

@calamityjam

I'm supposed to help ds choose options for year9 in 2weeks. How is he meant to do this? He did 5 months of year7 and 4 broken months of year8. He doesn't have enough experience of high school to drop any subjects

Yes that is very hard, you have my sympathy. I remember how hard it was in Feb of Y8 for mine to choose and they had done 4 terms. I think school who choose in Y9 is a much better system IMO, even before COVID times.

@AriataBrown why thank you!

@formerbabe

Dear God you sound absolutely vile.

Who are ya??!!!! A random stranger on the internet who feels the need to insult me because I’ve typed out the words “kids are resilient.”

Didn’t like what you read? Struck a chord? Hard to face facts that kids bounce whereas adults struggle?

They’ll be alright if you show them it’s alright.

Children are no more resilient than adults. That's just something people say because it's easier to think that than face the reality.

This ain’t actually true, cases began to increase in august. There were loads of mixed households doing eat out to help out and in the pubs. Social distancing between groups but not within them so people sitting right next to each other

Ah yes. Because going from approx 1400 [Mid August] to 1800 [Sept 3] is the same as going from 1800 to 33,000

@Livelovebehappy. It's not been a couple of months, though, has it?

If you don't think children's health is a real problem, then fine, but there are many experts who disagree:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55664966
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7644278/
thecounter.org/covid-19-childhood-obesity-health-school-lunch-crisis/
www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/22/children-health-screen-times-covid-crisis-sleep-eyesight-problems-digital-devices
www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/01/21/adult-home-workers-fussed-no-health-safety-concern-children/

Let's not pretend children are fine. We may think sacrificing their health is a fair sacrifice to make to protect adults against Covid, but we should admit openly that that's the policy choice we're making.

@AriataBrown why thank you!

[quote SoldOut]@formerbabe

Dear God you sound absolutely vile.

Who are ya??!!!! A random stranger on the internet who feels the need to insult me because I’ve typed out the words “kids are resilient.”

Didn’t like what you read? Struck a chord? Hard to face facts that kids bounce whereas adults struggle?

They’ll be alright if you show them it’s alright.[/quote]
They’ll be alright if you show them it’s alright.

THIS

😆

[quote SoldOut]@formerbabe

Dear God you sound absolutely vile.

Who are ya??!!!! A random stranger on the internet who feels the need to insult me because I’ve typed out the words “kids are resilient.”

Didn’t like what you read? Struck a chord? Hard to face facts that kids bounce whereas adults struggle?

They’ll be alright if you show them it’s alright.[/quote]
You must either be devoid of empathy or just a bit thick of you think children are immune from mental health problems