Because of the Covid-19 lockdown, my kids have been out of school for 8 weeks now. Well, it's been exactly 8 weeks for Ben, as he finished a little early because he was licking everything in defiance of the new hand washing routine! He was licking tables, walls, pencils, attempting to lick members of staff- it would be hilarious if it wasn't so dangerous.
So I had him home a few days while Amelia was still in school and she was furious! My friend who picks her up for me 3 days a week so I can be on time for Ben, had had to be relieved from duty because being in the playground just wasn't safe for her with her own health concerns. So a lot of change. Then on the Friday schools closed for all children, except for those whose parents are both key workers. So if someone has a non-keyworker job they are expected to work from home and have their kids with them.
All well and good and reasonably fair? Well, kind of. Except for a few inconvenient facts. These are just the ones that occur to me right now, it's by no means a full list:
- All the parents that are not key workers are also not teachers (otherwise, y'know, they'd be key workers). So we now have untrained people trying to teach. It's hard and I dislike it (even when it's not hard)
- Most parents have other responsibilities and aspirations than home schooling their kids, e.g. work, study, life goals, well being needs, church responsibilities, care for family members, running a household
- Kids are not allowed in supermarkets, in fact with varying degrees of enforcement your shopping trips are one person per household. And they take forever because you have to queue to get in, queue around a one way system, and queue for a till. So in a household where one or both adults are key workers, and they are still working outside of the home, it's a tightrope act trying to get food into your home
- My kids and I are going through a period of anxiety, uncertainty, massive change, stifling of most desires, and isolation from our normal support and friendship networks. These kids are in no fit state to learn most days
- There are hundreds of thousands of children who have severe special needs, and I for one have very little idea how to provide the specialist teaching and therapies that my son needs. And there is very little support available, Ben really isn't getting any support other than a pack of maths worksheets each week, and one Zoom call with his whole class that he hasn't been able to participate in so far for various reasons.
- This is a time where you can't just ring most places and set up appointments, solutions, fixes, advice etc. If you need something and you can't work it out or get it yourself, you're going to go through a LOT of hassle, answer machine messages, emails and maybes before you get to the bottom of it. And add to that two small persons who need your attention all day, and you're basically screwed- nothing is getting sorted.
- My house is a mess- I tidy up, kids happen immediately, repeat.
- We can't go anywhere- can't see friends, can't visit anywhere at all, playgrounds are closed even, you're allowed out once a day to exercise, and not allowed to drive somewhere to do that.
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