Are you looking forward to everything going back to some sort of normal? Does the thought of your kids going back to school excite you? Or fill you with fear?
In this article I am going to discuss the currently very controversial topic; should we be rushing our children back to school?
A topic which anyone with children of school age, has probably discussed over the past few weeks. I know it’s definitely been the topic of many conversations in my house, for two reasons; firstly I have a young daughter, of the particular age the Government are hinting will be one of the first to go back, and secondly my husband is a teacher.
I’ve read articles, listened to news stories and of course my husband has an opinion on the matter, being a teacher himself. The general feeling is that parents and teachers are worried. The evidence that the virus is asymptomatic in children, and whether or not they can pass on the virus to adults, isn’t well tested enough. In fact, there are cases where children have died from the virus.
However much our kids are stressing us out right now, I’m sure no parent wishes their child catches this deadly virus.
One of my main concerns, after working with children myself, is that children can’t always follow the rules. They get excited to see each other, they fight, and they can’t help themselves from touching one another. All things which for them involve physical contact.
After seeing photos on the news recently where children in other countries are being given a chalked-out area to play by themselves or are sat at a marked-out table on their own, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly sad. Instead of a warm and friendly environment that a school should be, it looked scary and cold.
We need to think of our children’s mental health. In my opinion they are safer at home, where human contact is OK and encouraged. My little girl is still learning about what’s acceptable in society and I don’t want her to think that social distancing is normal. I also don’t want her to be scared or sad and not be comforted by a teacher or friend.
Another worry for me, would be what if my child brought the virus home. How would that impact on my family life, childcare and if the worse were to happen to myself how would this effect my daughter and her mental health.
I believe that eventually the economy will fix itself. But will we be able to fix our children’s mental health if we rush them back to school?
So, from me it’s a; No thank you Mr Prime Minister! Not until the number or new cases of the virus comes down greatly.
Let me know what you think about sending our children back to school before we’ve got proper control of this virus.
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