Anti-lockdowners pretending to care about kids again

[noblegiraffe]

So it's all over the news about how nearly 400,000 kids are having to isolate because of covid cases in schools. Complaints about how disruptive to education it is and to the mental health of the children involved. This disruptive isolation must end as soon as possible.

Contrast to last November when nearly a million kids were self-isolating in a week. Do you remember the headlines, discussions and outrage about that?

No, of course you don't. Because back then, the solution to so many kids isolating was to put more mitigation measures in schools and attempt to stop so many kids catching it.

Now they can argue that it doesn't matter if all kids catch it, they're all over the 'terrible' isolation figures which are less than half of those last year.

I'm SO done with people only caring about kids and education when they think that they can use them for their own benefit.

If these loud voices could be used to talk about things like the cuts to pupil premium, the pitiful covid catch-up funding, the critical shortage of teachers, the unsafe state of schools, the massive waiting lists for CAMHS and SEN services, then maybe I'd believe them when they claim to care about children.

Anyway, that’s all in the past.

Let’s all be happy there’s no need for isolating kids now we have the brilliant vaccines.

@noblegiraffe

Surely they always cared about the disruption to education?

Nope, like I said, they abused and harassed posters who raised it as a concern.

Never seen that myself. Would be interested to see actual examples of this. I cannot believe for a second that people don't or didn't ever care about distraction to education.

Giraffe I think, and I was very heavily pregnant last autumn/winter, that there was a lot going on. I think a lot of posters were pretty terrified of schools closing again.

Obviously bubbles bursting was bloody annoying and disruptive. Obviously it was. And ideally there should have been mitigations in place. I am not disagreeing with any of that.

But I do think that for a lot of people and to be honest I probably include myself in this, burst bubbles and some disruption was better than whole school closures. (And yes I know some did but I mean countrywide.)

I really do care about children, but the problem is, ‘children’ aren’t one body or mass.

There are disabled children for whom the pandemic has been horrific - like some of these poor children.

There are children with long covid, like this girl who are obviously still suffering.

Babies like my own ds who have been denied the chance to be born and to feed as he should have.

Babies and toddlers who have had their speech and language skills compromised.

Children who suffered horribly with poverty and abuse in lockdown.

Children who actually benefited from a calmer, slower pace of life.

You can care about all the above who have at times contradictory needs. It isn’t hypocritical at all. It’s a ‘what’s best for most’ sort of scenario.

@WouldBeGood

Anyway, that’s all in the past.

Let’s all be happy there’s no need for isolating kids now we have the brilliant vaccines.

Couldn't agree more.

@cornflowersandpoppies

Who didn’t give a shit about disruption to kids’ education before Christmas?

Well I sat and cried my eyes out with my year 13 who had no idea what was going on with her exams and was so fucking miserable about missing school. I'd say that was caring about education, but no doubt someone will edit my comment selectively and use at as an example of teacher bashing/hypocrisy/troll behaviour, or quote it with a pass/ag flower.

I hope they don’t bryony

I hope your DD is feeling a bit more settled now.

@WouldBeGood

Anyway, that’s all in the past.

Let’s all be happy there’s no need for isolating kids now we have the brilliant vaccines.

Hear hear.

@cornflowersandpoppies

I hope they don’t bryony

I hope your DD is feeling a bit more settled now.

She's finished! Thank you cornflower

@Bryonyshcmyony

Oh yes it’s definitely how these threads go. Certain sentences get selected out and are used out of context. Lots of flowers also get given out….. it’s very bizarre but they all follow the same “template” so to speak. Predictable.

Never seen that myself. Would be interested to see actual examples of this

In case you are not being disingenuous: Look at any thread I started between Sept and Dec. They’re riddled with deletions though because MN deletes personal attacks.

They also deleted the threads asking that I be banned from posting about the data in schools.

There’s even been the standard personal attacks on this thread (hope you don’t teach my kids wah wah wah )

@cornflowersandpoppies

Giraffe I think, and I was very heavily pregnant last autumn/winter, that there was a lot going on. I think a lot of posters were pretty terrified of schools closing again.

Obviously bubbles bursting was bloody annoying and disruptive. Obviously it was. And ideally there should have been mitigations in place. I am not disagreeing with any of that.

But I do think that for a lot of people and to be honest I probably include myself in this, burst bubbles and some disruption was better than whole school closures. (And yes I know some did but I mean countrywide.)

I really do care about children, but the problem is, ‘children’ aren’t one body or mass.

There are disabled children for whom the pandemic has been horrific - like some of these poor children.

There are children with long covid, like this girl who are obviously still suffering.

Babies like my own ds who have been denied the chance to be born and to feed as he should have.

Babies and toddlers who have had their speech and language skills compromised.

Children who suffered horribly with poverty and abuse in lockdown.

Children who actually benefited from a calmer, slower pace of life.

You can care about all the above who have at times contradictory needs. It isn’t hypocritical at all. It’s a ‘what’s best for most’ sort of scenario.

Totally agree. Great post.

Anyway, that’s all in the past.

No, the shitty campaign groups are wheeling out their faux concern right now.

They’ll disappear as soon as any actual practical work needs to be done around fixing the impact on children.

It’s not a personal attack for a poster to say they hope you don’t teach their child @noblegiraffe.

@echt

Moaning about Gov't is pointless, it's the govt we have and they're not going anywhere. Instead of teachers targeting worried parents and having a constant go at parents. Some teachers on here i sincerely hope quit teaching ASAP, they dont deserve to have our children anywhere near them

Very mature @echt.

@Nicknacky

It’s not a personal attack for a poster to say they hope you don’t teach their child *@noblegiraffe*.

What is it then? Some sort of endorsement?

Is this about U4T?

@TooManyPlatesInMotion but - had we not locked down, all the things you are listing would have been worse. It was to control the infection and to give time to scientists to find a solution.

Thankfully now, we have the solution (I hope).

@cornflowersandpoppies

U4T is a campaign group. So if you disagree with noble you’re either a member of this group, a troll, astroturfing (news to me I had to Google that one) or any other mannerism of things other than just someone with a different opinion.

It’s like people can’t fathom someone who has an opposing viewpoint to noble.

It’s incredibly bizarre.

Also flowers get given out on the odd occasion when someone disagrees which is also…. Bizarre.

@borntobequiet It’s hardly an insult though, is it? Someone having an opinion that the poster doesn’t like does not make it an insult.

To be fair noone knows what kind of teacher noble is, maybe she's amazing. Maybe she's not a teacher at all. Who knows?

My experience with my daughter’s school (state school in a fairly deprived area) was

• her class teacher spoke daily to the class over zoom about their feelings and helped them think of ways to cope during lockdown

• her class teacher made time every day for the children to exercise/suggestions/activities she could do in the living room, and my daughter and I went for a run/couch to 5k

• the school last week did a big project on healthy eating and my daughter has planned our meals this week and is encouraging us to make healthy choices as a family.

My daughter’s school has been amazing, and one thing my daughter has learnt from the pandemic is the need to take care of others in society.

I’m going to sound a bit contrary myself now and that’s not the intention but that’s not what I’d want my child to learn in eighteen months.I can teach that myself.

Constantly focussing on the negative becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Things have been really shit, but there are people out there who have gone OUT OF THEIR WAY to make things better.

We should be damn grateful. Reading about Professor Sarah Gilbert - what an extraordinary woman. I also read up a bit on Chris Whitty yesterday after the appalling incident in St James’s Park. I’ve always found him calm, measured and easy to understand when he has spoken about Covid. I read about his amazing career and qualifications, how his Dad died in a terrorist attack when he was 17. I have no words for people who see fit to attack him - or for that ‘comedian’ who said they should have done worse…

Yes - the teacher MADE time, along with teaching everything else on the curriculum. She was extraordinary. Happy, bright, listened to the children and made them smile/supported their mental health every single day.