Dear people who were parents of toddlers in lockdown

[jallopeno]

How on earth did you manage?!!

I'm so sorry. I don't think I realised how much of a struggle it must have been. Hope you're doing OK.

Yup, my teens were really affected by the lockdowns - destroyed their MH. DS in particular is still really struggling

Ah well we had "useful" advice like work in the corner of a room so you can watch your toddler at the same time.......or set up toy stations it will keep them entertained for hours.....hmmm not!

Our work refused to furlough us so basically we took it in turns and did big walks out separately with DS1.
Having DS2 a toddler now I notice in DS1 some of the struggles with new social interactions with new people in comparison and there are a lot of kids who are still developmentally behind in his age group. We deferred him from school an extra year (it's pretty common in Scotland) to give him the time that he missed to build up and play more confidently etc.

I thought all the time during the lockdowns about parents and kids with no outside space. Simply couldn't get my head round it. I was and am full of admiration for them and I know quite a few must have cracked up, I would have (retired now). Also, we were all so isolated and not allowed to visit each other that people couldn't help each other in the normal ways. I didn’t even see my own grandchildren because I was looking after elderly/sick relatives.
it must have been so awful. Well done to those who survived.

DD was 18 months. We took shifts of working - DH did mornings and I did afternoons. Happily at that stage she still took a long afternoon nap. It was hard and we missed family immensely but DH highlights that he got so much quality time with DD that he wouldn't have otherwise had. Also very grateful that we had understanding employers. Thankfully no delays in development either. I always felt so much sympathy for those attempting to do home schooling!

Also - two of the grandchildren definitely suffered. One fell very far behind and then just scraped a couple of GCSEs. The other continued to attend school as his mum is an essential worker, this was year 5/6. Small class and lots of attention. He actually thrived. He was busy, happy and popular. Then plunged in year 7 into a busy, not terribly clued up (imo) secondary school. He got off on the wrong foot and has never been ok in school since.
I know this wasn’t the aim of the OP, who wanted quite rightly to pay tribute to parents of toddlers. There was so much damage caused by Covid that will take many years to put right - it’s not over yet.

I had a one year old, a three year old and an eight year old. I worked part time remotely throughout… my husband worked full time. My eldest child’s school sent endless schoolwork home for them to complete. It was hellish! We got through it but my mental health really struggled and my middle child definitely suffered as I was either working/sorting eldests schoolwork or keeping an eye on baby and I don’t think he got the time he needed (lots of guilt about that). On reflection I wish we’d transferred him to one of the few nurseries that stayed open so he could’ve had time with his peers but hindsight is a wonderful thing…