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Original poster

Ask your kids to come straight home...

115 replies

EsquireFuss · 09/03/2021 13:10

I work in a small local shop and while there are no schools nearby, our location means that people pass us en masse on their way home.

Yesterday, with the kids back at school, between 3pm and 6pm, many groups of children descended to buy sweets and pop and crisps. No masks. And while I'm quite happy to insist obvious older children wear them - we still have many primary school children coming in with their friends.

So, my personal plea, please ask your children to come straight home, cos I'd really like to see my mum and dad this year. Wink

OP posts:
CovidKingfisher · 09/03/2021 16:17

@SummerHouse

All this chat has made me want a snickers.

Pop down the shop and get one. While you're there grab me a double decker will you? Thanks.
Make sure you avoid the kids though, I don't want their filthy germs Grin

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 16:17

Need, want, can.

IcelandThree · 09/03/2021 16:23

I don't think it was an unreasonable OP, I wouldn't be like to stuck in an enclosed space with lots of unmasked people. Children that are exempt from masks shouldn't be gathering in shops.

When OP is saying she wants to see her parents this year she might be worrying about her own health, or COVID just generally spreading again, rather than her parents' health.

LatteLoverLovesLattes · 09/03/2021 16:24

@Lastbonestanding

No, kids need to socialise. They have given up way too much already.
And people wonder why the schools opening causes such a spike in cases 🙄🙄🙄

It's all poor little darlings missing out on education
One minute to get the schools opened. But that's not enough though...then they should be allowed to mix with others outside of school, go into shops together and not wear a mask.

🤦🏻‍♀️

You'll have no one else to blame when they get closed again or when cases are too high to re open anything else in April.

Tittyfilarious · 09/03/2021 16:25

Well the shops around here are absolutely delighted to have the teenagers back in spending money on the way to and from school so long as they wear a mask and there's a limit I see no issue.

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 16:25

@LatteLoverLovesLattes with respect that is not factual and you sound like you dislike children anyway.

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 16:26

Most people I know pick up their primary school mask less children and take them home..

TheOrigRights · 09/03/2021 16:26

But like pp said many parents are happy to palm their kids off and will take an extra 10 mins without them.

Oh yes.....
Apart from the odd hour here and there where either DS has been out playing football with ONE friend or I have been out exercising, I have been with my son every single moment since schools broke up 20th Dec.

I am a lone parent.

I'm not going to palm him off when he returns to school tomorrow, but my shoulders will drop, I will be able to focus on my work, I can just know that for a few hours someone else is responsible for him.

activitythree · 09/03/2021 16:27

You're right, kids should be coming straight home we are still in lockdown. It's unnecessary for them to be going to a shop after school for crisps and fizzy drinks anyway, touching everything in store. But like pp said many parents are happy to palm their kids off and will take an extra 10 mins without them.

I don't want to 'palm' my kids off. I'm not sure the extra 10 mins you talk about caused by going into a shop quite fits the context of 'palming them off', anyway.. I don't want an extra 10 mins without them, I want them to have as close to normal a life as possible. It's been a year since my DC had a 'normal' day. If you begrudge children this small pleasure because of your bitterness and assumptions towards other adults you really need to be taking a hard look at yourself.

TheOrigRights · 09/03/2021 16:27

oh and he won't be going to any shop, he gets a contracted bus straight back home.

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 16:28

As if ten minutes max buying something in a shop constitutes ‘palming off’ 😏

LatteLoverLovesLattes · 09/03/2021 16:32

[quote Fembot123]@LatteLoverLovesLattes with respect that is not factual and you sound like you dislike children anyway.[/quote]
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nope, you couldn't be further from the truth about me liking children.

& what exactly isn't factual? That non mask wearing people spread the virus 🤣 or that a lot of parents want schools back first and that means their kids should be able to socialise out of school as they please?

If you disagree, feel free to take it up with virologists.

activitythree · 09/03/2021 16:34

@LatteLoverLovesLattes

It's all poor little darlings missing out on education

Don't be so bloody rude. These children have suffered for fucking months. How dare you reduce that suffering to 'poor little darlings' - you don't have a clue.

DianaT1969 · 09/03/2021 16:36

Let's hope bus drivers don't feel the same.
Do you keep the door open at all time? Is the shop spaced out so that customers don't have to cram in to pay? Do you employ someone outside during peak hours to stop more than 2-3 entering?

manicinsomniac · 09/03/2021 16:39

When I was at secondary in the late 90s/early 00s, there was a small shop next door. The employees made us line up outside and we could only go in 3 at a time. Decades pre Covid. Can't you just do that?

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 16:40

Yeah sounds so much like it @LatteLoverLovesLattes 🙄 Primary school children aren’t required to wear a mask, come back in April when everything opens up juuust fine so I can laugh at you, theres a love.

activitythree · 09/03/2021 16:45

@manicinsomniac

When I was at secondary in the late 90s/early 00s, there was a small shop next door. The employees made us line up outside and we could only go in 3 at a time. Decades pre Covid. Can't you just do that?

OP is Jackie Weaver has no authority Grin

UhtredRagnarson · 09/03/2021 17:17

The school should open up the old style tuck shop and the kids will never darken your door again OP. Bet your employer will be happy about that. Grin

SpnBaby1967 · 09/03/2021 18:58

I keep trying to palm my kids off to the local co-op, but the bloody staff just insist on taking my kids money and sending them out the door with chocolate.

I must be doing something wrong? Maybe I can put a sign round their neck or something "Mum doesn't want kids, they're yours now.Will not work for snacks"

StillCounting123 · 09/03/2021 19:59

Some adults see children as nothing more than disease carriers, and that attitude is truly horrible.

Paranoia about Covid is just a cover for a hatred of children, and probably other adults.

Tell us where your shop is, OP (if you're ever going to come back to the thread and aren't just a troll).

Fembot123 · 09/03/2021 21:15

@SpnBaby1967

I keep trying to palm my kids off to the local co-op, but the bloody staff just insist on taking my kids money and sending them out the door with chocolate.

I must be doing something wrong? Maybe I can put a sign round their neck or something "Mum doesn't want kids, they're yours now.Will not work for snacks"

🤣🤣🤣
EnglishRose1320 · 09/03/2021 21:48

Some people on this thread are so bloody rude. I am far better at knowing what is best for my childs mental health than some strangers on Facebook. It is perfectly possible to protect his mental health and help reduce the pandemic, not easy but doable.

MessAllOver · 09/03/2021 21:58

I'm on the fence on this one...

On the one hand, I think that, delightful as individual teenagers often are, large groups of secondary-age children milling around are an obnoxious obstacle to the rest of us "decent" (i.e. over 18) folk trying to go about our oh-so-important daily lives. Even pre-Covid, I objected to having to fight my way through the youthful throngs to obtain Percy Pigs from my local M&S Food. Happily, I am friends with several teachers and, by copying their stentorian tones with a stern "Move please, children, don't stand around like beached whales!", I found I could normally achieve my goal.

On the other hand, they are a large group of your customers and, working in a shop, can you (or your employer, but it is ultimately the same thing) really afford to alienate customers right now? At some point, we do need to get back to some sort of "normal", even if that includes annoying herds of teenagers in your shop. It must have been lovely having a break from them during their incarceration at home, but all good things come to an end. Perfectly reasonable to insist on no more than 2 at a time, though.

TheOrigRights · 09/03/2021 22:06

I'm on the fence on this one...

Bloody hell....get off! You're meant to be AT HOME!

mum2jakie · 09/03/2021 22:08

Oh dear! I think there are plenty of unemployed people who will be happy to take over your job!