Children more likely to be infected...

Firstly, this is not a post designed to complain. We are safe, healthy and happy. There are literally millions of people far worse off than us. People who have lost loved ones, people who've lost jobs, people likely to lose jobs, people separated from their support networks, people living alone who don't want to be. There are people in this thread who have care responsibilities who I'm in total awe of at the best of times, let alone right now.

So given all the positives that me and my family do have, this has still been the hardest and most stressful period of our lives. And this has largely been due to work. From a week in to lock down I've been redeployed from my exciting day job in major projects and regeneration. Firstly setting up community hubs to get emergency food and medicine to the vulnerable and shielding. Then to pulling together the different volunteering groups to create a more sustainable network of support.

Now I've been moved to planning the economic recovery; preparing and implementing one year strategies that will allow people to social distance and, once guidance allows, ensure people can start to return to the city centre with confidence so that our tourism based economy does not completely collapse. Since it all started it has literally been a 7 day a week, all consuming job.

But, all of that pales in to insignificance with the pressure my wife is under. A new headteacher trying to keep a school open, staff safe, and kids emotionally and physically safe. Checking daily on at risk kids who aren't in attendance. Ensuring online learning is sent out every day. Keeping school open every day of the school holidays, including Good Friday and Easter Monday. And trying to decipher the absolute nonsense advice from central government.

All of this is on top of us trying to homeschool and give all the love and attention our 7 year old needs. On Thursday night I finished working at 10.30pm (my wife was still working), poured a beer, and cried because i felt like a **** dad. Because when she was stuck on her maths I was stuck on a conference call. Because I had to let her watch TV for two hours that morning because I had a strategy to write. And because I couldn't hug her at one point when she needed it because I was on a video call. And no matter how important any other job I'm doing is, it isn't as important as the job of being her dad.

Anyway, I feel like I'm posting self indulgent cr@p so sorry, but I'm doing so for two reasons. Firstly just to say that teachers are different beasts, and no matter what you ever read about them they are only ever driven by one thing, and that's their total commitment to doing the very best for their kids.

And secondly, because some of the posts in this thread just remind me why through all this you should never judge anyone. We all have our own personal coronavirus stories, and if we pause for a second before we react, before we judge, and before we speak, we'll be able to find the love, support and understanding each of us needs to get through this.

 

I often feel like I'm not doing enough for my kids, especially through all this. I like to think that having the self awareness to have those thoughts means I'm doing ok for them. The real poor parents don't give them a second thought.
Thank you for sharing, I felt better just typing some of my problems out.

 

Keep your head up and best of luck mate

 

Think Donny local authority has said their advice is not to open as per government advice.

Surely even waiting another couple of weeks and looking at the levels of infections around the country would be more sensible.

Think with current levels it is far too risky. My other half has still been working at school educating the key workers children throughout the pandemic and there is always the worry at the back of my mind that she could so easily contact the virus.

Surely a better strategy would be at local level where the virus has virtually been eradicated (no new case) would it then be sensible to look at returning.

 

Can I just say.
I’ve never known people to be so open. And telling how they feel to total strangers so to speak.

I’ve always tried to be as open as I can, not worrying whether it’s not the macho thing to do.

And can I salute you all that respond in a respectful manner to try and comfort those suffering. Even those you may have serious differences with on certain issues. Be it politics or. Football. Or any other subject you care to mention.

I am a member of the Jump village forum. And although politics is not allowed. The feelings for one another on the whole is unsurpassed. Or so I thought till I realised what good people with good hearts are on here. Both on a par in that respect.

Being downright abusive though is not commonplace on the Jump site. Costs nowt to be civil.

 

I’ve only just read this - look after yourselves.

 

Not sure what your point is here? I’m not disputing the fact there are 60,000 excess deaths, I was disputing the fact that there was 10k excess deaths a week at the time of writing.

I said I’d look back once the data is available. We still don’t have fully up to date data for mid May (the time of writing), but in the week to 8 May the excess deaths were 3,081.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...eredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest

 

It feels too soon to me, simply because none of the valid questions parents have can be answered yet.

 

Something football clubs could do in this country to help kids learn? All the space sport clubs have on the land they own, this idea would work really well. Far more kids could go back to learning, social distance better than in a school and they can make most of months of warmer weather.

 

This could work in a child care sense (for older kids) but it'd be terrible for learning for all the reasons that we don't teach kids in a lecture theatre now. You could do some Victorian style teaching of chanting a few times tables, testing spellings and a bit of storytime but not much else. If you've ever seen kids sit in assembly you'd see them all squirming after 20 mins, even if they are watching a film in the hall or a pantomime at Christmas time you only manage about 45 minutes. Anyone who's ever taken a young kid to the football knows it costs them a fortune in pop and crisps and probably ends up handing over the iPhone by half time as they are bored. With a teacher standing in front of them with no board to demonstrate on, having to shout so that everyone can hear them, with no desk for the kids to lean on, it'd be disastrous. At my last school, they made us do a week of outside learning, all day, every day (6 hours with 30 mins break) each half term and the kids hated it and that's when they were able to move around and work in groups and we had a ton of resources to make it interesting. It just quickly became stupid when they were asking if they could go inside to sit at a desk so they could write properly rather than leaning over clipboards, the wind kept whipping everything away, it'd start raining randomly and we'd run under the cover but it'd still blow in and wet the worksheets. My TA and I nearly broke our back every day carrying all the stuff we'd need outside but there really is a limited amount of things you can do without the resources of a classroom, that's why we have them in the classrooms.