Prepping amidst Pandemic - Thread 17

[Sprayitall]

Hi all, starting this thread to continue from preppers thread 16. Because we are amidst a pandemic now, I have changed the title to prepping amidst pandemic than “for pandemic”. I hope all of you keep well amidst this and get all the help, support and hope needed to cope during this challenging times. Feel free to add your thoughts, preps and ideas here.

@livingthegoodlife I can understand and I myself is more similar to you in many ways. We don’t watch news in the telly either and dd knows there is this virus going on and washing her hands often is more important now but no, we haven’t said her about people dying or anything scary for that matter. My dd is similar to yours too, she is a little shy but likes to talk to her besties. I know that mum - her son once said to my dd that he doesn’t want to upset his mum by talking to her because his mum thinks a boy should be best friends with other boys only. My dd cried so much that day (she is 5 and even I can’t understand why-so may be that’s the reason) the staffs were aware of the issue and said me , they were very supportive to dd but can’t help much because it’s his parents choice. As for me I wasn’t raised here but the problem I see here is the lack of social contact kids have while growing up. I don’t want dd to grow up like this but sadly I don’t have much of family living here and even though neighbours have similar aged kids they don’t play outside nor in the front garden in the close either. Just a cordial hi and bye and that’s it which I find is plain weird for kids that age. I also find the society here is more conservative and people are more
pushed to believe that boys should like blue and girls should choose pink, adults should wear monochromatic grey like that - I don’t know why but I grew up in India and find even in the 90’s the society there was more liberal.

@WhereDoWeGo Absolutely. I find it morally wrong too. Me and dh discussed about this and yes, we talked the same exact point. How do we send our kids knowingly that it might harm them or they might pass on to others? The Kawasaki like Inflammatory disease that was in news also doesnt give me any hopes. Of course some might argue it’s more like vaccinating your child, but in vaccination it’s mostly live but weakened viruses and also there is no way of spreading it to others from it. Considering this we are thinking it’s best for her to be at home and be homeschooled for the time being. Yes, I was sending her to school just for the social aspect here as I’m confident enough to home school her if need be. Dh said even if they fine us it’s alright let her be at home. It’s our duty and responsibility to protect her and the family isn’t it.

Today's achievement: I was starting to get a bit worried about how many boxes of paracetamol and nurofen we have amassed so have put a lock on one of the kitchen cupboards so it can serve as medicine cabinet and tuck shop to slow the consumption of the treats, credits now need to be earned for sweets or choc

Crisps also disappearing at quite a rate but can't fit them in as well, noticed they don't have long shelf life so can't buy too far ahead plus bulky to store which is a shame, will be the end of days if shops run out of crisps

@WhereDoWeGo I know. It’s all very stressful to think. I even received an email from dd’s school as they are making arrangements for them to return. The policies look ridiculous but my thoughts are with the head teacher and the staffs - they can’t do anything more than this isn’t it. they are opening part time initially and that too with so many ridiculous policies of encouraging social distancing, change of classroom lay out and behavioural education (all for a reception aged child- go figure) I’m absolutely sure my dd would be devastated to find all the things changed in school and to find she can’t mingle anymore with her friends would do more harm for her mental health in the long run I think. How can a 5 year old understand not to hug their teacher when they are upset- that’s too much to ask for) I’m thankful atleast dh is on board with me and doesn’t want to send her until all the people in the parliament are back as it was before. The problem is head teachers and schools should not push student attendance at this time as they should also understand that if one child stays at home it also reduces their risk of getting it. So they should be thankful if parents can homeschool.

@lexloofah I would buy things like dried poppadoms and things you can deep fry instead of crisps. More healthier and has long life. I’m prepping by sorting out the meds cabinet as well. but I am staying away from buying anything much for the next 30 days other than milk and fresh produce as I’m expecting a second peak after the partial end of lock down today. I’m also prepping the cupboard with ingredients needed for winter.. few other things to sun dry as the weather here is getting nicer next week. I’m making sun dried curd chillies and varieties of sun dried veggies and fryums. Hope they turn out well.

@wheredowego got an email later today saying they are preparing the schools to be open by the intended date. I am sure they are worried too. I don’t think this much of pressure is necessary for them atleast, we have enough on our plates already with the economy going down, furloughing, no new contracts, reopening businesses etc. Schools can wait and should be the last to reopen. That’s what I feel. Also what’s the point when they are having summer holidays in another month. I think Transitioning to all thewe new norms will only be more difficult to my dd than transitioning to year 1.

So glad I found you all again! I owe a lot to the prepping threads prior to all this. My Brexit/pandemic stash has got me through some tough days!

@WhereDoWeGo True that. Did you see the picture of the France school with little ones returning but with them playing inside squares drawn around them. It was heartbreaking. That would do more damage to the kids mental health than them being stuck at home. I think a September reopen would be good to think about. The news this morning saying the numbers of Kawasaki like covid related inflammatory disease in kids is just the tip of the iceberg and there are many more - doesn’t give me any hopes of sending her in June.
I am planning to do more cleaning up today to take my mind off all this. From tomorrow I might concentrate a little more in gardening. The petunia seeds havent come up yet but there are other veggie plants waiting to be repotted. Received the potato grow bags that I ordered long while ago (the one that has a window in it that can be opened to pick the potatoes and root veggies so we don’t pull the whole plants up) have anyone else used that? Please share me your tips as I can’t put a raised bed because the sun is not enough in the back garden and I am having only pots and planters for now. The seeds from the giant tomato that came with the veg box has all come up and I am excited to repot them. I forgot to feed the roses in March because of this panicking. I don’t know if I can feed them now but the blooms are slightly smaller this time. Any ideas? Attached a pic

Poppadums great idea sprayitall thank you. I saw those photos from French school, broke my heart, think that would damage kids more than keeping them at home for a bit longer

wheredowego we are lucky to have a small utility with some old kitchen cupboards which I use as my store, sure kids would rather have a play cave, sounds cool

Oh and meant to say I do have popping corn in as hardly takes up any space. We made potato peel crisps with lunch, v nice.

I have again received an email from the school this morning. They have just sent the link to the government guidelines and a short parent questionnaire. The questionnaire is like this “ Will you be sending in your child from 1st June?” Yes/ No. if No, please advise why. If yes, continue with other questions like partial reopen etc . We don’t want to send dd . Wondering how should we answer this. I’m in high risk category but not extremely clinical vulnerable and dd has not been yet diagnosed as asthmatic but is using inhalers when she has night coughs.

Quite a cheek asking to send kids and saying they are encouraging it because of the government guidance. They should give the parents an option isn’t it. My anger as a mum knows no bounds. Please share this petition if you share the same opinion. Thank you.

www.change.org/p/give-parents-the-option-not-to-send-children-back-to-school-if-they-reopen-in-june?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_21979665_en-GB%3Av2&recruited_by_id=404ada50-92fd-11ea-bdf0-63ac9d89db11&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_message&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial&share_bandit_exp=message-21979665-en-GB&share_bandit_var=v0

I keep losing you all, the app on android is rubbish! Hope you're all doing okay.

Have you seen that Vistaprint and Playmobil have launched masks recently? I've ordered one from each and will report back if they're any good.

@wheredowego ordered masks from a website called Cambridge masks co after someone here suggested but it will be delivered only in August I think. I also have five disposable ffp3 left after a building work and some cheapo surgical masks that I bought when I visited India last year (bought them for my worktop to use while silversmithing and soldering, never knew it would come to this. If only I had known I would have bought more and some nicer ones!) also ordered some normal reusable washable cotton fabric masks for everyone from a local person who made and sold them for £3.99 for kids and £4.99 for adults.

I'm making some masks, been wearing disposable ones to rare shop trips (and reusing after 4 days minimum left in the car).

I'm in Northern Ireland so have different school concerns. We won't be back this year as school breaks up here at the end of June so suspect we'll see how things pan out across the water before jumping in as it were. I'd be reluctant to send dc back but one of them has transfer tests for secondary school & he is really keen to do them to hopefully get into local grammar. They've only delayed the tests by 2 weeks at the minute even though children have missed so much school.

Not sure about children wearing masks. Doubt if they'll have to in school when the time comes & not sure where else they'll be.

I'm ordering another freezer tomorrow. Realised that the smallish upright we have isn't ideal for 4 of us anyway. I like to batch cook & have a lot of soup in the freezer & most of the drawers are broke from me shoving stuff in!

buckeejit we are also limited to a 3 drawer under counter job in the kitchen, have just plugged in new chest freezer in the garage (thank you holiday money no longer needed) and can't wait to get a shop in and do some batch cooking - this has been the highlight of my week

A friend kindly made masks for us, I see other folk on local Fb offering too, DH has just gone off to B&Q in his, we had a discussion beforehand whether he should wear it or not, of course he should but it is just so strange to get used to the idea. His weekend project is putting up some racking in various nooks and crannies I have identified as extra storage space

Morning all, how are the preps coming up .. nice weather ahead - not going anywhere other than lounging in the garden for now anyway 😂 is it just me who is taking this social distancing very seriously or is everyone still doing it?? The school reopening is bothering me a lot and I am losing sleep over it. We don’t want to send dd as it’s too risky - even when they say they can provide adequate safety measures but then there is this in small print in the email saying even though kids are less prone to it and they can provide adequate safety measures in the setting they can’t guarantee kids not catching it because they can’t deny the fact this increases risk. DD’s school is kind of higgledy piggledy with tiny classrooms. planning to re open with social distancing is hard (also practicing it in using the toilets and washrooms is impossible as they will be shared anyways?)

My vegetable pots are coming along now, I've got courgettes, chillies, coriander, tomatoes, aubergines, strawberries, potatoes, lettuce & mint.

Got yeast & breadmaker next on my list to acquire.