Children in lockdown

It is - but, as part of the discussion, some people are saying the lockdowns should never have happened - I believe they were right - in fact too little too late.

Vulnerable children suffered under the lockdowns and school closures. They already were suffering disproportionately due to the withdrawal of family services that would have helped them - covid exacerbated this. We can only hope that some of these services might return - but no sign yet.

But I do think that most families managed well helping their children during lockdown, and those children learned flexibility and computer and other skills as part of this. It was/is not all gloom and doom.

Luckygirl3

*I think some people are forgetting the air of fear which the Government was producing*

I think it was the virus itself that produced the air of fear - and entirely reasonably so. It was/still is a virus to be feared by the vulnerable.

It is entirely normal that anyone (teenager or not) would feel unsettled by it all. The presence or not of lockdowns could not change that. Fear was an entirely reasonable response.

It is easy to forget what the virus was doing to people and the young hospital workers who died.

It is easy to forget what the virus was doing to people and the young hospital workers who died.

No, we in this family will never forget the further effects of Covid from being to unable to access GP appointments and the neglect that resulted from that.

However, this thread was about what effect lockdowns had on children.

My daughter was 8. She had Zoom lessons. Her bestie was on FaceTime a lot, just in the background as they did their separate things or played together. She got through it just fine. What has adversely affected her mental health is secondary school.

I think we all knew the risks of lockdown, but sometimes needs must.

Certainly the medical advisers knew and must have been tearing their hair our trying to deal with the buffoon.

How have your grandchildren fared during the past five years

They've done well.

Lessons at home occupied, introverts are still introverts, extroverts are as outgoing as ever. No problems. Very distant memory.

I think Johnson somewhere in him understood the risk of lockdowns, I think he resisted putting one in place for the last variant if I remember rightly. This doesn't negate the fact that he was and is an idiot but I do think somewhere in him he knew the risks of lockdown.

Until the vaccines arrived and had high coverage in the population lockdowns were inevitable and necessary.

The fact that members of the government were larking about and behaving irresponsibly was one factor in their tardy response - but then they were a stupid lot and the worst possible bunch of people to be heading the nation in such a crisis.

Their stupidity lumbered us with more deaths and more lockdowns than would have been necessary had they behaved responsibly.

I think some people are forgetting the air of fear which the Government was producing

I think it was the virus itself that produced the air of fear - and entirely reasonably so. It was/still is a virus to be feared by the vulnerable.

It is entirely normal that anyone (teenager or not) would feel unsettled by it all. The presence or not of lockdowns could not change that. Fear was an entirely reasonable response.

It is easy to forget what the virus was doing to people and the young hospital workers who died.

Thank you for the graph escaped.

I think some people are forgetting the air of fear which the Government was producing with their solemn messages and soundbites. Older children, teenagers, were bound to pick up on that and to think it wouldn't have affected them despite the best efforts of their parents, especially those of a more sensitive nature, is surprising. I remember phone chats with youngest DGC when she cried and said she missed us, and trying to cheer her up. A few weeks seems longer to a child than an adult.

Had we known that, behind our backs, the Government and their advisers were having jollies and laughing about it, would more people have rebelled?

Thank you for that graph.

The reason I think the school closures were necessary is because the UK government did not deal with the pandemic with speedy lockdowns to nip things in the bud. It allowed all sorts of crazy super spreader events to continue with our leader joking and messing about.

If we had got on with lockdowns straight away as other countries did we would have been in a far better position.

This is a graph to show the excessive time the UK schools were closed compared with other European countries. Sorry, it's in French, but self-explanatory - green being open, red being closed.

Then factor in the high UK death toll to see we might have got the later 2021 closures wrong.

As soon as I heard Boris say shop workers should continue to go to work, I knew it was nowhere near as dreadful as they made out. Hence, we lived our lives as normally as we could. I repeat, not for one second did I think Boris thought shop workers lives meant nothing!

My grandchildren were fine. We had 2 years of it but they attended a lot of online classes and even had to wear their school uniforms. One of them was told off for not wearing her full uniform! They were lucky because there are 3 of them and they had each other, they have always been close. Their days were quite structured with scheduled breaks for lunch etc. We were only allowed up to 5 km outside the home but they used to walk round the block, luckily they live in a pretty area with a lot of trees. The worst thing was that there were no celebrations allowed when the eldest finished his school years, no valedictory or any of the usual graduation formal nights. He was upset about that.

And I would be very interested in how the general public would respond to the suggestion of another lockdown. I suspect it would be very different.

In your view, not in mine.

But keeping schools open would have thrown teachers into the firing line and they too had their vulnerabilities and vulnerable relatives, just as we all do/did.

I do not think this thread is teacher bashing, but I do think it is retrospective wishful thinking. The lockdowns were essential.

Luckygirl - But it was ok to send shop workers to work, throw them to the wolves? The government knew healthy people should have carried on living their life reasonably normal. If you believe the government did not know this, then you must think the government did not value the lives of shop workers. I do not believe this for one minute!

I am not retired, I am in my fifties, I work in early years and did at the time. I didn't work jn first lockdiwn but did in the rest. As people are saying some other countries did things differently in terms of education. Personally I think we should have supported those with vulnerabilities to isolate, or I think we should at least be able to talk about that idea if we are ever faced with a similar situation. Not that I think lockdowns would be achievable if/when we are faced with another pandemic.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that schools should never have been closed. During the first wave of vovid, when there was no vaccine available, of course they should have closed. What is being said, is that the later school closings right into March 2021 were, unnecessary and detrimental to children. I know the second strain of covid was equally dangerous, but by then those who were more vulnerable were better protected, and probably more used to shielding etc.

Neither is anyone showing no consideration for teachers, nor suggesting they should have been thrown to the wolves! DD2 went into school as a keyworker teacher. DH set up systems for his school to operate online lessons and carried on with all the non academic work, visiting the premises on occasions.

This is not a teacher bashing thread at all. It's a bit dramatic to say that anyone here is suggesting they should have been thrown into the firing line.

To suggest that schools should never have been closed is to accept that we would have knowingly thrown teachers into the covid firing line with no consideration for their safety or that of any vulnerable relatives they might have.
As it was some brave teachers went in to school to teach the children of key workers ... basically acting as child care for them as online lessons were available to all other pupils.
It is not acceptable for us as retired people to sit back in safety and suggest that others should have been thrown to the wolves.

Our local school was open for keyworkers children and any deemed "in need". I don't know how exactly that was decided but some of the "less needy but still vulnerable" children went in part time. Lots had laptops bought for them and lots had lunches provided and delivered to their homes.

It seems some schools managed better than others.

ViceVersa

theworriedwell

ViceVersa

Allira

Schools didn't close
🤔

Schools did close.

Yes, they definitely did here. There was only a handful of schools which did remain open - and even then it was only for the children of keyworkers or others which fell into certain categories.

Yes they opened for key workers children and teachers worked doing on line lessons for children.

But the point I and several others have made is that things were different in various parts of the country. In my area, most of the schools were completely closed (for children and staff) and only certain ones were open to cater for the children of key workers and other vulnerable groups. Simply saying that schools weren't closed is not correct. In many places, they were.

Quite right, ViceVersa.

One school in an area would remain open as a hub.

Things were different where I worked in an independent school in London then. We actually helped out a couple of state schools by taking their keyworkers' children when their own schools closed. Schools did close fully in many places.

My GD was born in May 2020, my daughter had a terrible time in hospital giving birth alone. She had no support from Health Workers or GPs, and us as grandparents were unable to given them much help.
Despite this my GD thrived, she had excellent verbal and reading skills from an early age I think due to parents spending a lot of time with her. She has now started school, she has lots of friends and very social, she is in the top set in every subject.
But I do appreciate that not all babies born during Covid had the same experience a number of children in my Gds year are behind in a number of skills.

My daughter works in a school, as a key worker, she took her turn covering lessons for the children in school, when she did that, her children went in with her, 7 and 12 years old in March 2020.
I think the lockdown actually suited the 12 year old, subsequently formally diagnosed as autistic, the youngest missed his friends a lot, I’m not aware of any lasting repercussions.