Don’t hug your Grandma..

[HolmeH]

Is CW & the govmt deluded? Grandparents have been allowed to do childcare since November. Pretty much every friend I have used their parents over lockdown at some point, if not several days every week to be able to work. Admittedly my social circle has predominantly under 6’s. Do they really think young grandchildren & grandparents are keeping their distance during the childcare bubbles?

My local infant school playground that my house overlooks is filled with grandparents picking up their grandkids since they went back. Hate to break it to them but every single one is hugging them & holding their hand ..

Sometimes I wonder what they actually think the real world is like for working parents, particularly with younger children 🙈

Assume they mean people that haven't been routinely hugging their grandparents throughout?
My adult DC have not hugged their grandparents for nearly twelve months and won't be for a while yet.

deluded? To believe that people will listen to the scientists, value the lives of their older relatives and follow the rules? Yup - they probably are deluded - silly government scientists who don't realise there's a country full of ass-holes out there.

Assholes who just want their DC to hug granny? Oh how wicked they are!

Let the bunfight begin

Social distancing (while meeting outside) is guidance not law:

You should maintain social distancing from anyone who is not in your household or support bubble.

Of course, the medical officer has to advise on the safest course of action (no touching, no hugging). However, inevitably people will make their own decisions. According to the public health guidance, we all should have five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Some of us do it, some of us don't.

I think the government and some of the public assume that absolutely everyone has been WFH and we have all lived in a unicorn lockdown bubble for the last 12 months. Meanwhile in the real world many people still have to leave home to go to work and grandparents have been providing childcare. Some people even take public transport (gasp) and work with actual other humans in close proximity and guess what the trains and buses are actually pretty busy with other workers, students and school kids. It makes me wonder when I see pearl clutching conversations MN about someone seeing another person how far removed from reality many people. Do they have any idea that the country has continued functioning largely because lots of people have actually just been getting on with things because they have had no other choice but to do so.

If you’re in a bubble you don’t have to social distance. Not all grandparents are in a childcare bubble obviously.

The notion of "elderly grandparents" is so unfamiliar to me, it always makes me laugh. My mum was 44 and my stepdad was 40 when my DS was born. Some people have babies at those ages.

@Waxonwaxoff0 grandparents being generally older "makes you laugh"? aren't you easily tickled..

[quote YawnyOwl]@Waxonwaxoff0 grandparents being generally older "makes you laugh"? aren't you easily tickled..[/quote]
The "don't kill granny" ads do, yep.

I have let the grandparents do what they want - one side come over and hug the kids, school drop offs etc, the other side haven't - not my place to make decisions for them.

Someone I know's mother died the other day - they haven't hugged the grandkids for a year .. how my friend's regret it.

Whst about flu-season? Flu can kill a granny too!

It's up to adults to decide. This is a government that tried to ban sex, FFS.

@Waxonwaxoff0

The notion of "elderly grandparents" is so unfamiliar to me, it always makes me laugh. My mum was 44 and my stepdad was 40 when my DS was born. Some people have babies at those ages.

I knew someone who became a grandad at 30

@XenoBitch wow! That is crazy.

One of my DD's friends (17) saw his gran when he had Covid. He had no symptoms so didn't know. Hugged her. She tested positive a few days later and died a few days after that. So that's why.

The parallel with sex is actually very good.

In the early days of HIV/AIDS numerous healthcare professionals and medical advisors were adamant that the only way to stop the virus spread was to advocate for abstinence or - failing that - absolute monogamy.

As we know, the strategy has completely failed. Most people ignored useless "advice" and kept having sex. The virus continued spreading.

The real game changer was the complete shift in focus - the medics started reaching out to prostitutes and educating them on safe sex. It was not a popular move but it yielded much better results than more "ethical" but ineffective measures.

Re socialisation - most grandparents will want to see their grandchildren. Many grandparents will be very happy to receive a hug. We can minimise risks by meeting outdoors but expecting everyone to avoid tactile contact (especially when it comes to young children) is completely unrealistic.

There is absolutely no way on Earth my parents would have not hugged my children for a year! I find it utterly bizarre there are grandparents who haven’t to be quite honest, but mumsnet is full of people who have been hibernating for a year 🤷‍♀️

@tenlittlecygnets but they grandparents have been vaccinated so have a level of protection that they didn't before.

When does this all end.

@Remmy123, sure, but they weren't vaccinated at Christmas.

Enough people are ignoring the rules now that they got has to set out new rules.

The government, not they got

@wintertravel1980

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/essays/adam-wagner-covid-lockdown-law-democracy-essay

Instead of amending the bill, however, the government decided to impose lockdown through secondary legislation—regulations made by ministerial decree—under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. Although little known, it had a troubling history: a scene in Russell T Davies’s recent television show It’s a Sin shows a young Aids sufferer in the 1980s being detained under regulations made using the same law. By 2020, the Public Health Act had become a different, and potentially fiercer, beast

I’m not following the original point:
1 - not everyone has childcare bubbled with grandparents. Some aren’t local. We haven’t as I have one child in nursery and I wasn’t willing to expose my parents when we could just about manage.

2 - where they have, the distinction is that theoretically, if GP are childcare bubbling, they should only break the social distancing guidance whilst providing that childcare. So “don’t hug granny” is referring to the periods when seeing them in a social context. I appreciate that most people have ignored this, but with that in mind, “don’t hug granny” makes perfect sense.

3 - plenty of adults have grandparents left.

We're in a bubble with my mum and have been hugging throughout.

@SilverGlitterBaubles

I think the government and some of the public assume that absolutely everyone has been WFH and we have all lived in a unicorn lockdown bubble for the last 12 months. Meanwhile in the real world many people still have to leave home to go to work and grandparents have been providing childcare. Some people even take public transport (gasp) and work with actual other humans in close proximity and guess what the trains and buses are actually pretty busy with other workers, students and school kids. It makes me wonder when I see pearl clutching conversations MN about someone seeing another person how far removed from reality many people. Do they have any idea that the country has continued functioning largely because lots of people have actually just been getting on with things because they have had no other choice but to do so.

^^ this. Not everyone is sat at home, nor is this possible, life goes on. I personally know of one person with no pre existing conditions, who has managed to hibernate for a year and her physical and mental health has suffered immensely.

I heard this question put to the scientists yesterday at the briefing and they completely dodged it.

My nan has had both jabs bloody weeks ago (she's 94 and had it after 3 weeks as was one of the first to be done before the 12 week gap came in) and my second jab is in 2.5 weeks, surely a little after that time it's as safe as it's ever going to be to hug her? If not then, when?!

@halcyondays

If you’re in a bubble you don’t have to social distance. Not all grandparents are in a childcare bubble obviously.

That's for a support bubble. Childcare bubbles are still supposed to social distance where possible. Obviously not possible with very young children, but my parents have been looking after my 10 and 13 year old after school all this academic year (obviously the 13 year old doesn't really need childcare but the 10 year old does and so her sister might as well go too when she wants to) and they have been keeping their distance. My 10 year old is desperate to hug her grandparents but knows she shouldn't so doesn't. She and my mum have named 21st June as 'Hug Day'!