Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Will life ever return to normal?

139 replies

lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:35

Just coming here because I'm at home alone with my children after yet another morning of stress and exhaustion trying to WFH and help them complete their zillion tasks set by school, and my 8yo just came to me and said "Will my life ever be like it used to be? I miss it"
I painted on a smile and tried to reassure him that of course, it would be but inside I just had an awful sinking feeling.
I've come into my office for a quiet sob.
Will it? Is this his childhood now?

This is all really getting me down Sad

OP posts:
Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 03/02/2021 14:36

Yes it will

AlexaShutUp · 03/02/2021 14:38

Yes, of course it will. We don't know when, but we will get our lives back eventually.

AlexaShutUp · 03/02/2021 14:39

I'm sorry that your ds is struggling btw. And you.Flowers

Sunnydays999 · 03/02/2021 14:39

It has to be . People can’t do this for much longer . Lady across the road has stuck to all the rules . She has now started letting her kids have friends over . She saw that I had seen . She was nearly in tears . People just can’t cope

Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:39

I know I'm probably being silly in the grand scheme of things. Just his little face when he asked me broke my heart.
I'm finding it so hard this time around but I know lots of people are too.

OP posts:
Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:40

Thank you Flowers
Sometimes just having a rant or moan on here helps to make me feel a bit better about things!

OP posts:
hazandduck · 03/02/2021 14:40

I feel the same OP. My little girl is one tomorrow and I just feel sad. Her first year has just been so not how I imagined it. A year is such a long time in childhood.

Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:41

@Sunnydays999

It has to be . People can’t do this for much longer . Lady across the road has stuck to all the rules . She has now started letting her kids have friends over . She saw that I had seen . She was nearly in tears . People just can’t cope
I know how she feels. My DS is really missing his friends, zoom calls are just not the same.
OP posts:
Scottishgirl85 · 03/02/2021 14:43

Yes it will Flowers
But what is normal, there are parts of the pandemic experience I'd like to see stay, like increased wfh so I see my children more, less aviation to address climate change etc. Let's not aim for February 2020 existence, let's aim for an improved existence.

Inthewhiteroom95 · 03/02/2021 14:43

Eventually it will but I'd expect more of the same for the rest of this year at least. Things should hopefully start to improve by this time next year and open up a bit more. I think the virus will still impact our lives for the nect few years so things like masks social distancing will remain for the foreseeable future. I think that by 2025 it will be more or less normal again.

Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:43

@hazandduck

I feel the same OP. My little girl is one tomorrow and I just feel sad. Her first year has just been so not how I imagined it. A year is such a long time in childhood.
It is a very long time although at least hopefully by the time she's old enough to start making lifelong memories all this will be behind us. I have everything crossed.
OP posts:
Sunnydays999 · 03/02/2021 14:44

@lockdownlow I really wanted to hug her ,but couldn’t

Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:47

@Scottishgirl85

Yes it will Flowers But what is normal, there are parts of the pandemic experience I'd like to see stay, like increased wfh so I see my children more, less aviation to address climate change etc. Let's not aim for February 2020 existence, let's aim for an improved existence.
This is a nice way of looking at it. There were parts of the first lockdown that I felt brought us much closer, but then the weather was great, my partner was furloughed and the children only had a fraction of the work they're getting now so we seemed to enjoy a lot more quality family time together. This time round is hard and exhausting.
OP posts:
Waxonwaxoff0 · 03/02/2021 14:48

Yes, it will. People are keen to return to normal life. It will happen. It is already happening, there is far more activity than there was during the first lockdown.

Original poster
lockdownlow · 03/02/2021 14:49

@Inthewhiteroom95

Eventually it will but I'd expect more of the same for the rest of this year at least. Things should hopefully start to improve by this time next year and open up a bit more. I think the virus will still impact our lives for the nect few years so things like masks social distancing will remain for the foreseeable future. I think that by 2025 it will be more or less normal again.
I think you're probably right. I just hope we can get a bit of normal back soon so that today's children can have some kind of childhood to enjoy
OP posts:
scissy · 03/02/2021 14:52

I suspect some things will change forever (e.g employers noticing the sky didn't fall in from wfh) and hand gel at entrances for example but I get what you're aiming at - the social side of "normal" should return, other counties have gone that way already.

Delatron · 03/02/2021 14:55
  1. Don’t be so stupid. We wouldn’t have an economy left.

The OP is clearly struggling. Saying things will be like this for another four years, based on nothing is not helpful.

The vaccine rollout is going well. Restrictions will start to ease come March. Kids will be back at school and doing all the things they love. There will be a few things that will take longer.

There is no way, once the vulnerable are vaccinated that people will accept these restrictions on their lives and the government know that.

They will maybe keep pubs closed until May but kids aren’t bothered about the pub!

Hunt down some of the more positive threads OP. Otherwise you’ll attract the posters who want and think we’ll be in lockdown forever. Lockdown is a temporary solution. Everyone knows that.

hazandduck · 03/02/2021 14:56

You are totally right OP and my DH said the same. Tbh I worry more for my older child who asks so many questions about the ‘germs’ and not ‘getting too close’ to anyone. You can’t help but wonder about the long term impact it’ll have on them.

FoolsAssassin · 03/02/2021 14:58

Yes, this is the worse bit, hang in there 💐

BastardCorona · 03/02/2021 14:59

Oh God it’s heartbreaking isn’t it? My two ask things like this too. My youngest was 7 in November and even told me she’d made a wish for Covid to be over, as she blew out her candles. All you can do is reassure them that it will, of course, pass but to a child a year is such a long, long time.

CaughtInTheCovid · 03/02/2021 15:01

@hazandduck it was my daughters first birthday the other day and it was really bittersweet. What a first year. She’s so lovely and no one knows her. Hope you’re ok it’s been tough.

OP I feel for you and your son it’s so hard. All you can say is of course and we will all enjoy and make the most of it so much. People are at breaking point.

Wildswim · 03/02/2021 15:01

I think the virus will still impact our lives for the nect few years so things like masks social distancing will remain for the foreseeable future

Nonsense. This way of life is abnormal and not sustainable. It's already been so damaging and will already have caused many longterm negative effects for years to come, so the sooner it's over the better.

Inthewhiteroom95 · 03/02/2021 15:04

@ lockdownlow It will improve for children by next year at the latest, hopefully before. I would think further lockdowns beyond this year would be very short and or localised. I suppose a lot rests on vaccine efficacy and the government getting its act together. I have faith in the former, not so much the latter!

wonderstuff · 03/02/2021 15:05

I'm taking comfort from history, no crisis has ever lasted forever, no pandemic has been without end.
I think many people were over optimistic about the time we would spend like this, I certainly was, and it feels never ending but it won't be.

Crisis like this change some things, often for the better, the things we've learned during the last few months have been incredible!

It's always darkest before the dawn, if nothing else the weather will get better fairly soon. Vaccine roll out has been going brilliantly, vaccine development has been incredible. I really think by the end of March we will be in a much better place.

Bloody hating life at the moment though.

CaveMum · 03/02/2021 15:10

Someone told me that pandemics generally have a lifespan of about 2 years from start to finish. Not sure if that is a general rule of thumb but looking at it there is some truth if you look at pandemics in the last century or so:

Spanish Flu pandemic lasted just under 2 years (June 1918 to April 1920)
Asian Flu pandemic was 1956-1957
Hong Kong Flu pandemic was in 1968

So if this one runs a similar course then we are starting to come out the other side.