Thread 14? Corona Cohort Yr 12 2021 - 'Vaccinations and Eliminations'

[orangecinnamon]

Just place marking for the New Thread!

[estherfrewen]

@EssentiallyDelighted - am right with you re swimming! Except it was 4am here.... DS has officially stopped squads after 11 years. He quit at Christmas what with lockdown and workload. Hope's to swim at Uni even if just for social aspect

[teta]

Found you all
My teenagers have been following the rules. As they board or go to schools with predominantly boarders they haven't been mixing with anyone.
I think the young are more sensible than the elderly. We have lots of nonagenarians gallivanting around here.



I'm not sure about the theory that talking about depression causes it. In my experience it's the exact opposite. And you ignore it at your peril. As there may be lots of things going in in your teens brains that may be hazardous to them.

[icanbewhatiwant]

I'm struggling to find any positives this lockdown. But I am just hoping this won't be for much longer. Listening to tv this morn it sounds like just primary schools and years 11 and 13 will go back in March. So a bit longer for ours.

[FoolsAssassin]

I feel it needs to be acknowledged that it is shit and feeling down is a normal reaction to this kind of situation whilst at the same time looking for positives and knowing we will come through it. Just been doing this with DD who is sad as we had to put cat it sleep this week and I think we both felt the better for it by end of call.

Meanwhile DS went back to sleep, I forgot to check as was talking to DD and we got phone call from college , oops. Don’t think he will look at me with an ‘I am awake, why are you here look’ in the mornings again!

[crazycrofter]

I think both are right - we acknowledge that it's crap for everyone, but particularly for the young, and we sympathise with them and are on the lookout for mental health issues. But it's also good to highlight positives (for us, not getting up really early!) and try to make the most of them.

Dd has just discovered an online live workout at 6 every day that several of her friends are doing, so that's good. Ds has been doing workouts religiously since September - in the garage when it's not too cold and otherwise in his room.

[EssentiallyDelighted]

Esther - we are fortunate that the morning sessions are at our home pool which is only half a mile away for us, some of our swimmers have a half hour drive to get there. DD has just been promoted up a level so that's even more swimming to come. She's just doing land training on zoom at the moment. She's yr10 so might have to wind it down next year.

Fools - I'm sorry about your cat

[teta]

Lock down positives:

Ds2 learned to make home made Pizza with proper bread dough. He makes a large batch & does pizza garlic bread too.
Also does Almond Macaroons.


Ds1 is the king of healthy eating & cooking from YouTube.

Protein pancakes .
Chucks turmeric in everything including the cottage pie the other night.
Puts berries in everything.

Dd2 likes us to cook for her 😄.



Negatives:

No one washes up.

[ChristopherTracy]

positives: 1) I paid for sky sports on a cheap deal and now DS and I watch football constantly and have even dragged DD into it. Sometimes we even play cards as a family while the footie is on in the background.
2) I have varied our dinners, signed up for a posh meat box and are eating veggie twice a week and fish twice
3)I can poo in my own toilet all the time
er...

[Monkey2001]

@ChristopherTracy

@teta - can you tell me about protein pancakes? We tried protein cookies but they were not great.

[EssentiallyDelighted]

With regard to item 3 on your list @ChristopherTracy, we got our water bill today and they are having to out up our monthly payment.

We watch a lot of football too, but DS gets pissed off on the weeks BT Sport has the coverage as we don't have that. Another plus for us was managing to watch the entire World Darts Championship .

[EssentiallyDelighted]

I am doing much better with meal planning and cooking from scratch than I do normally. I do mostly try and cook from scratch but its a real juggle with work and all the sports. I have got sourdough going as well (middle class cliche).

[MirandaWest]

Hello new thread. Will try and think of some positives to lock down but I'm not sure today is the day for them. Will keep thinking though :)

[ealingwestmum]

to point 3 Christopher

So many upsides and downsides, including learning more about DD (that’s not all good), but would have missed in normal times.

Food is our biggest challenge, as she has put on lots of weight in the past year. The lack of 15 hours swimming has taken its toll, but the upside is that this time is being used for intensive physio and 121 outdoor PT to try and overcome some now, chronic complaints whilst out of the pool. If they ever get the go-ahead to return in future, I am hoping she will lose the excess without being totally screwed up on her eating habits. I am a low(ish) carber high fat eater of 18 months so we are polar opposites on our carb intakes!

[AnneOfCleavage]

Hey everyone 👋

Sorry to hear about your cat Fools ☹️

Our positives are:
Having a lie in and not having to do the 40min walk to and from school in the cold, dark and wet of these winter months.
DD is enjoying cooking and cooks for us once a week - normally fish. She also loves to bake so does online baking sessions with her friends.
A big positive for me is not having to do a lunch box as DD can have soup or a toastie so easier.

Negatives:
DD misses her friends and going to her dance school. She finds zoom dance classes hard as our floor space is limited.
I feel quite isolated this lockdown as work for myself but it's v limited at mo so I'm just pottering around.
Weather is pretty awful so not getting to go out as much although managed a 2 hour walk today as only spitting a bit and DH was on a morning off today.

Thank goodness the weekend is nearly here and I can enjoy a glass of wine in a bit with DH 🍷

[AndwhenyougetthereFoffsomemore]

I think the combination of acknowledging the challenges and celebrating the little wins is a good one. We have - for a long time/since before lockdowns - had a ritual of (not everyday, but often) sharing one good thing from the day over supper - this can be something you are proud of, something that made you thankful or joyful. Some days this lockdown the things have been pitiably little (esp from dh who is have a tough time at work) but it's interesting how the mind space of looking for those moments of positivity helps. We started it when ds was struggling a few years back, and I think it does/has helped me.

Our lockdown positives? Feeding and being amused by the birds in the garden (no pets - sorry to hear about your cat @FoolsAssassin, that's tough timing); walks (we are probably the only people still enjoying these!); being able to listen into some of the kids lessons esp singing; seeing ds mysteriously develop organisational skills (he's created a GANT chart for his EPQ?!?!); our evening family snuggle and TV time - my two are clearly needing that physical comfort at the mo.

Biggest challenges? For me, trying not to turn into a lockdown tubby potato. For dd & ds - missing their mates and carefree mucking around. Dd had a super giggly call with a gang of her mates the other day and I realised it was a while since I'd heard her really, really laughing with them :-(

[ChristopherTracy]

Yes to the physical contact, DS hasnt willingly cuddled me since he was about 6 but now will playfight with me in lieu of physical affection.

@EssentiallyDelighted Because we already spend too much with Virgin they offered us Sky sports and BT sports for a tenner a month in the Black Friday sale.

[Zandathepanda]

Orange Shimy don’t worry the title made me laugh as recently the only times I have come across the ‘elimination’ word is in a bodily excretion context or Strictly! Then I thought - oh no what fresh hell is poor Year 12 being subjected to now?! And googled the word thinking there may be some new (hunger games) way of deciding next year’s A Level grades!

[ealingwestmum]

I quite like the habit in lieu of being able to give a physical hug to friends in need, DD baking brownies/cupcakes or cookies and driving with her dad to drop off on the doorstep.

[Zandathepanda]

And going back to the thread topics, Dd has benefitted so much from lockdown as I expect a lot of clinically vulnerable DCs have - in that her anxiety levels have gone down. I think this is partly because she isn’t fearful of catching Covid, which may seriously have affected her, but also because the FOMO has gone as no one else is supposed to be socialising/partying etc which she can’t do. She had serious problems with one of her courses and the lockdown has given us and the school the opportunity for it to be sorted (fingers and toes crossed) before she goes back. She even ‘attended’ a university taster lecture yesterday on zoom!

[orangecinnamon]

@EssentiallyDelighted

I am doing much better with meal planning and cooking from scratch than I do normally. I do mostly try and cook from scratch but its a real juggle with work and all the sports. I have got sourdough going as well (middle class cliche).

Ooh me too although not Sourdough level yet.

I am trying a carbonara recipe tonight...I've always been afraid to incase it scrambles the eggs. Making a Hungarian chicken dish on Sunday. I find it relaxes me after work to cook.

[EwwSprouts]

In lieu of a cuddle DS sometimes plonks himself down on the bed next to me at bedtime to help with a few crossword clues. Cannot see that would have happened in normal times.

Downside is I worry about his lack of seeing friends as he is an only child and very sociable. Never did I think I would be so glad for online gaming!

[Piggywaspushed]

Found you all !

Upside : DS has spent time on webinars etc. looking at unis. I think outreach has been better by unis and more accessible because they need to do more remote stuff. Upside no me trying to stay awake on Tuesday taking DS to band and/or football and no weekend madness of football either. DH far less stressed about work. We ahve all leant new IT skills. No huge fulfilling upsides: just bobbling on. DS says he likes remote learning because of time to think and work being built into his school day. He is a hard worker so I guess it suits him in that sense.

Downsides : genuinely not many : we don't go out and about much anyway. Not being able to get haircuts seems to be the main issue! I agree with Tanya Byron on most things but I don't actually agree that MH issues in teenagers are being ignored in terms of discussions. Maybe it is being a teacher and on MN but I feel like it is constantly on the agenda. My main concern about that is the rising idea that poor MH is a new thing. The govt can conveniently blame the pandemic and therefore not address the issues of chronic underfunding of mental health care, social care and education... I will say that the focus on teenagers who are suffering because of lockdown does overlook the (huge actually) issue that pre pandemic school (or really the education system) was a root cause of huge anxiety in teenagers. This hasn't gone away though because of the uncertainty for older ones about exams. So, even when not in school, school causes anxiety for 15- 18 years olds. There is also a (larger than some would have you believe) group of students who are far less anxious at the moment because school makes them unhappy (eg bullying or low self esteem) : sad but very true.

Natasha Devon is a great one to also listen to/ follow on Twitter : she too understands teenage psychology but has actually done a lot more work in schools than Tanya Byron and most child psychologists/psychiatrists/ paediatricians.

DS1 at uni is a lot more affected : part of that is his general personality type though.

[orangecinnamon]

You are right @Piggywaspushed I was only thinking yesterday about our exam system, especially at GCSE level. What good does it do for the student? They have exams at sixth form, but not as many, if they go to Uni it is all about mixed assessment. There are some courses/instructions that rely heavily on exams but this is not the norm.

[Piggywaspushed]

I was idly perusing the Cambridge website the other day and even they don't do 100% exam any more!

Back in the Dark Ages, I chose my uni because it did modules and didn't have end of year exams so it's not like it is recent this concern about overburdening young people with high stakes exams.

[Seeline]

@whenyougetthere My DD has just done a GANT chart for her sixth form project (if they choose not to do EPQ, they still have to do an extended essay at her school). I'd never heard of a GANT chart!!