I'm worried about kids going to school and bringing it home

[Molly333]

As said in the title I'm worried about my children going to school then bringing it home as I'm a single parent and without me my children have no one . Sorry im panicking

Virus ISNT going anywhere

@NotWithMyShoes

Where I live, homeschooling is illegal and they haven’t closed the primary schools since end of lockdown May. It’s also illegal to not send your child because you’re afraid they might catch it. All you can do is do all you can to minimise the risk of you catching it. Eat healthily, regular exercise, constant good hygiene reminders, vitamin supplants if you feel it necessary. Limit out of school contacts (although we are allowing contact with best friend and the kids who we share a garden with).

At least we know, if the DC do bring it home, that we have done as much as we reasonably can to protect ourselves from it.

Where do you live that homeschooling is illegal?

You know all those healthy under 50 people who are living with long covid?
Oh, give us a break! ‘long Covid is the new bogeyman trotted out when people woke up to the fact that the overwhelming morbidity is over 80s and vanishingly small for under 70s - even if you catch it.
Save your fear for more realistic dangers, OP, like your children ‘s mental health the longer this goes on.

As a former line parent can I suggest you make a will and name a guardian in it,do you have any relatives you can name? I understand you're worried but I think you need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Rates are dropping dramatically,most people who get the illness are fine. As another poster said,would you be this concerned about other illnesses/accident that can happen to you? Try and step away from the main stream media and the constant Mumsnet diatribe of I know a healthy 37 year old who's died that are posted several times a day.

Sorry you’re feeling so worried op. Really though the individual risk from covid for someone in their 50s without any of the risk factors is fairly low.

If you think about it we live with risk on a daily basis, we choose to drive etc and yet we don’t worry about those things.

You could always keep your kids off school but unless you’re also isolating there will always be somewhere you could pick it up.

Maybe thinking through some plans of who would help care for the kids if you became unwell would help you feel better and be useful in case of any other illness.

I'm terrified too.
To put it in perspective I know many people who caught it although I lost two people close to me, one through failure to attend a&e on time
The majority sailed through many are very unhealthy who i assumed would be in bits.

@SansaSnark

Schools in Scotland and Wales are doing a phased return, so it's very likely it won't be school like last term when schools do return.

Would people on this thread who feel uncomfortable prefer rotas/phased return with proper social distancing?

Yes me, definitely! A covid secure school would be fine. A school where 200 teenagers are packed into unventilated rooms with no ppe and no distancing, not so much.

And the nonsense that when you call this crammed in group of 200 a “bubble”, that magically makes covid stop at the door.

I agree op and personally think at least 1 parent should be vaccinated in the next round. Reduces spread and risk into schools and means a child should have one parent if one has to go into hospital.
There was a teen where both parents went in and one died.
Also (sadly ) women do most of the childcare who do they actually think is looking after kids if parents cant get out of bed.

Would people on this thread who feel uncomfortable prefer rotas/phased return with proper social distancing?

Yes. Daughter's school, with money for extra TAs managed class sizes no more than 15, socially distanced in the summer (June/ July). It was brilliant, she felt more relaxed, educationally did better (less disruption in class, more 1 to 1 time). So much better when they went back as normal in Sept. Also less stressful for her and me (and DH) because it was obvious there were some measures to prevent spread. The bubbles were per class - so 15 to a bubble which cut risk too, whereas in Sept with fewer staff it was half the school per bubble. No isolations in June/July - no illnesses in her class at all. When they went back in Sept it took one week before they all came down with a nasty rhinovirus (for which they all had to isolate and we all had to wait a week or so to get a covid test).

The other thing was in the summer the kids were pretty good at social distancing because they were at socially distanced desks and it was possible and enforced. In Sept when the DfE advice was 'social distance where possible' and a lot of the time it wasn't possible because they were sitting shoulder to shoulder in class and a narrow corridor in and out of the lunch hall, and a narrow corridor to the toilets / hand wash - well once it wasn't possible all the time most of the kids took that to mean they didn't need to bother. That's definitely the impression sending schools back as normal (after social distancing in summer) gives - to kids and parents.

My DD said to me 'has coronavirus gone away' because she was so perplexed at the change - yet infection rates were HIGHER in Sept.

My friend's in the US have their child in school half time, socially distanced, small class sizes and masks. Rest of time home learning. No isolations, no lockdown, consistent, good quality blended learning. SO MUCH better off than my kids (oh and bonus - their rates haven't gone up much since schools went back so none of his teachers, family or friends have been sick or died).

Yes I too would feel much more comfortable if they went back part time (splitting the class in half), be that a week on/week off, mornings and afternoons, or mon/Tues in Wednesday class rooms are aired, thurs/fri other half are in. Anything except everyone's in as normal to mingle and fester together in the same room. I'm talking primary school here, not sure what's actually doable for them or secondary though.

As you are 50 you will be vaccinated soon and then you can stop worrying.

As you are 50 you will be vaccinated soon and then you can stop worrying

What about all the 40-49 year old parents? I have a preschool child, it would be devastating for her if I was seriously ill (as well as for my older child).

Because some people have been vaccinated is not a reason to not take very basic safety measures for everyone else.

@SansaSnark

Schools in Scotland and Wales are doing a phased return, so it's very likely it won't be school like last term when schools do return.

Would people on this thread who feel uncomfortable prefer rotas/phased return with proper social distancing?

Sorry to report but they are just shoving all the children in from Primary 1-3 as it was to bacically 'test the ground'. I am also worried. In my 50's and a teacher.

They are SD the older ones and doing a rota but not primary.

Indie sage recommended rota systems at leas to begin with. I think its madness putting all those children back into school as it was. More infectious virus too. Also more hub children coming in.

@NotWithMyShoes

Where I live, homeschooling is illegal and they haven’t closed the primary schools since end of lockdown May. It’s also illegal to not send your child because you’re afraid they might catch it. All you can do is do all you can to minimise the risk of you catching it. Eat healthily, regular exercise, constant good hygiene reminders, vitamin supplants if you feel it necessary. Limit out of school contacts (although we are allowing contact with best friend and the kids who we share a garden with).

At least we know, if the DC do bring it home, that we have done as much as we reasonably can to protect ourselves from it.

This is exactly the time to not give a fuck about legal or not. Health is not a legal issue. We have not sent our son back in Sept. Yes, we have been threatened by the council. And no, we don't give a fuck. Our son has the unalienable right to a healthy mother and father and to a healthy life. If the world is in a clusterfuck situation and this can be only achieved by breaking the law (but not hurting anyone) than so be it.
As soon as schools are back in we will be getting calls from council. let them suck an egg and go play with their own family's health/lives.

Stop worrying. The endless crazy media reporting is doing you no good,

It wasn't ideal when I had campylobacter and crawled out of bed to take the DCs to school, and crawled out of bed to pick them up. That's parenting. There always has been health risks. Covid is not the first.

This is exactly the time to not give a fuck about legal or not.
Well, I can't afford a £2500 fine. And I don't see how my being sent to prison for 20 days will help my DC.

@Mumblechum0

Unless you’re over 50, obese or CEV there’s nothing to worry about imo. Worst case scenario is you’ll feel rough for a few days.

Don’t be such an idiot. Of course op is ok to feel worried- don’t minimise.

@poppycat10

As you are 50 you will be vaccinated soon and then you can stop worrying.

By the end of May isn't that soon, plus it takes 3 weeks post jab for the immunity to build up. That's mid June. Kids will have been back plenty of time to bring the virus home by then.

You need to phone your GP and get help with your anxiety which is clearly so bad that you can't make reasonable decisions. The chances of your being that badly affected by covid are very slim. If you can't see that you do need help.

Exactly what @Oblomov21 says

@Mumblechum0

Unless you’re over 50, obese or CEV there’s nothing to worry about imo. Worst case scenario is you’ll feel rough for a few days.

This is just not true. There are plenty of 30 and 40 something parents who have died. There's a thread about a 46 year old healthy father who has just had his ventilator turned off.

There was a 42 year old teacher who died www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/inspirational-teacher-42-no-underlying-19677724

What you're really saying is roll the dice. Roll the dice that you'll be in the majority who are ok, roll the dice with your kids future. But why not actually make schools safer so it's not such a roll of the dice? Take basic safety measures like everywhere else in the world?

And what about those parents who are obese or CEV? You can't just shift weight overnight or magically stop being a type 1 diabetic. Do those parents not deserve protection, and their kids not deserve basic safety measures in school?

Home educate?