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Original poster

Isolation away from kids?

53 replies

mamaez · 04/01/2022 16:28

Hi!
Tested positive for Covid this morning, PCR was yesterday....
I have 2 kids aged 4 and 2, we have decided not to send them into school/nursery (and made the school aware) just to limit the spread, although my OH had negative PCR and both kids are negative on LFTs.

Given the age of my kids I really dont want to be apart from them. They are so young and need their mummy sometimes, I have already listened to the 2 yo screaming for me at nap time. Plus the 4 year old has cottoned on to the fact I am upstairs behind a door and keeps asking why Im upstairs and not with them.

My OH and I clash on this one, I think we are already down the rabbit hole, just isolate us all together. He wants me behind a door and away from the kids until Im in the clear.

No underlying health issues any of us....

What would you do?

OP posts:
Whysotired · 05/01/2022 10:37

Personally as long as no one had serious health issues I wouldn’t isolate away from my toddler. It would be too much for him (and me!) to away from each other for 10 days.

Plumbear2 · 05/01/2022 11:06

Some of us are single parents. Isolating from the kids would be impossible for many of us.

Abouttimemum · 05/01/2022 11:10

My DH would have to go to work and I’d have sent DS to nursery.

Abouttimemum · 05/01/2022 11:10

Mainly because I can work from home so would also have to still work (if feeling ok)

SleepingStandingUp · 05/01/2022 11:13

I have covid. Two year old twins and a 6 yo. Currently being sat on and toys posted down my dress. I had panic attacks the first day when they wanted me but we've just sucked it up and carried on. Cut down on kisses but DH and I share a bed, no option really unless he's on the sofa for 10 days but then his and the toddlers clothes are in my room anyway.

VikingOnTheFridge · 05/01/2022 11:15

I wouldn't do this on principle, but also practically speaking it doesn't work. Unless OH is a SAHD, I assume he would either need to take leave from work or work whilst caring for two under 5s. As there's a decent chance he or they will get ill regardless, it seems daft to use any leave now when he may need it soon. And I wouldn't choose for my toddler to be looked after by someone simultaneously working if I had an alternative. Ask anyone who had to do that in 2020!

user290814356289 · 05/01/2022 11:16

Never isolated away from my kids when I had it.

SleepingStandingUp · 05/01/2022 11:18

Saying you’d rather cuddle your child yet risk making them ill (however mild) instead of letting your hubby cuddle them for a few days and not make them feel unwell is a no brained for me. Cuddles are the most important thing in our house but I’m not going to put a cuddle over making my kid feel like shit for a week that's not what was said. Pp asked why isolate them from Mom AND then keep them home so they're literay just locked in with Dad vs locked in as a family / mom locked away but they continue as normal

Bizawit · 05/01/2022 11:18

Noway would I isolate from a 2 and 4 year old. My whole family just had it. Dad got it first, gave it to 2 year old, who gave it to me, and I gave it to newborn 😫. Worst bit has been the isolation (not from each other, but being stuck inside etc). No way would I have tried to isolate members of the household. We all got symptoms, but no worse than any other common virus x

PomegranateQueen · 05/01/2022 11:28

Cocothebear

For most DCs it's no more than a sniffle. 10 days is a very long time for a 2 and 4 year old to go without a cuddle from thier mum, they are too young to understand. Clinical vulnerabilities and financial issues aside it's messed up not to hug your DCs for the sake of preventing a cold.

Bobholll · 05/01/2022 11:45

I’ve had it twice & never even considered isolating from my kids who are 2 & 4 as well. It’s a mild illness for them, I’d happily cuddled them when I had a stinking cold etc, no different for covid.

What’s the point if keeping them at home & isolating anyway?! They may as well be in school so they are away from you. If you are keeping them at home, just isolate as a family 🤷🏼‍♀️

littlepeas · 05/01/2022 11:52

Dh and I were 2nd and 3rd out of 5 to go down (one dc brought it in…) and there was no isolation from each other in our house. Unless someone is vulnerable I am baffled by isolation within families that live together - it is a strange thing to do.

Wednesdayafternoon · 05/01/2022 12:28

I'm not going to isolate from my children. I would absolutely hate to see them poorly with Covid, as with any illness, But it is just so unrealistic and also with my eldest being in school it is probably a matter of time before he naturally catches it anyway so I don't see the Need to put them through the trauma of a separation for like a week!
I still remember being young and how upsetting it was when mum to be poorly in bed and how much I worried about her. I know it isn't always avoidable, but there's no way I could isolate at home with them. It would be so confusing for them and traumatic for us all.

bookworm14 · 05/01/2022 12:52

Has everyone gone mad? Please do not shut yourself away from your tiny children.

RobinPenguins · 05/01/2022 13:02

I would absolutely not isolate from a 4 and 2 year old unless they were seriously at risk in some way. It’s totally disproportionate to the level of risk to them, and they’re too little to understand.

RobinPenguins · 05/01/2022 13:05

I’m not going to put a cuddle over making my kid feel like shit for a week

And I’m not going to put avoiding a mild illness that any children in nursery or school are likely to catch at some point anyway over making my kid feel like shit for a week because mum is in the house but won’t see, talk to or cuddle her. A 2 and 4 year old aren’t old enough to understand why.

MuchTooTired · 05/01/2022 13:12

I would isolate away from my children who are 3. If they’re going to get it I’d rather not be the one to give it to them, and the idea of them both being sick at the same time is the stuff of nightmares for me - they’ve so far been quite agreeable and have taken it in turns on the whole to catch colds/bugs etc.

No judgement on anyone else’s decision, just this is mine!

Original poster
mamaez · 05/01/2022 20:07

Thanks everyone, unfortunately its become a big fight between me and my OH now... If I break isolation and any of the 3 of them get it then its my fault, we d have to keep them home for longer, up to 3 or more weeks isolating as a family (his main concern I think) that will be my fault... If we then pass it to anyone else it will be my fault.

I get glared at if Im not wearing a mask when I go to the loo, hes put the kids to bed tonight without as much as a word to me, I got to see my 4yo cos she was crying hysterically for me at bedtime and I barged my way through, with a mask on. He followed me into the room to open the window and "ventilate"....

Right now Im stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to give my children covid, and I dont want us all to have to isolate.... That I agree with, but at what cost. Most of today and yesterday sounds like they were happy with daddy and having fun. But they have moments when they miss mummy of course. Im about to lamp my OH for being such a dckhad, and am unbelievablably low stuck in my spare room!!!

Help!!!

OP posts:
BambinaJAS · 05/01/2022 20:13

I don't see any scenario were a 2 and 4 year old would understand mommy not being able to see them from a closed bedroom.

My 2 year old DS bounces all over the house trying to find me after playing with her cousins. She would get frustrated and start crying if she was not able to find me. Don't see how you could avoid them for a week+. It would cause a lot of angst in the little ones.

My suggestion is to wear a N95 mask for the time period.

Make it a game for the kids. They would react better in my view.

BambinaJAS · 05/01/2022 20:13

DD* not DS

Wednesdayafternoon · 05/01/2022 20:17

Ong OP I can't believe you're being treated like that. You're the one who is poorly with Covid and you're being banished or shamed. I think that's shocking. It's such an awful situation tk be in and I totally understand the anxiety around the household catching it, I get that too! But it is not ok for you to be treated like this!!!

bumblefeline · 05/01/2022 20:20

No I wouldn't isolate away from my children, even now and they are late teens. We were all in it together.

Noln · 05/01/2022 20:23

No, I didn't isolate from my then 3yo and 5yo. I'd been around everyone while infectious for a few days by the time I had a positive test result anyway. Plus they are small children who wanted their mum and were worried enough as it was as the eldest at the least had this basic idea of covid being terrifying. Plus the risk to children is so vanishingly small as to be pretty much zero. Is your DH ever controlling in other ways?

Lemons1571 · 05/01/2022 20:27

Sounds like covid is the least of your worries.

What else apart from covid is your fault?

HoldenCaulfieldismyhomeboy · 05/01/2022 20:33

I'm a single mum so had no choice but to isolate with my 2 children. I wouldn't be apart from them regardless though tbh, my youngest is asd so would struggle hugely.