Lockdown (And Beyond) Hatchlings

[Leap]

That would be my instinct, Pov, but I bet a man wouldn’t even consider it, and it might equally look like trying to draw attention to working out of hours. I think it’s fine without, it’s no different to me working an 8-4 and logging in to find an email sent at 6 pm by someone who works later. I won’t feel the need to jump on it any quicker if it was 10 pm or 5 am.

[Princess Morripov]

Yeah to be totally honest I never notice the time anyone has sent an email as I work in a global role anyway so people just send email all times of day. I just respond to the easy things first anyway, and then ignore the difficult stuff and hope it goes away :employee of the month:

[viggy]

For people who are worried about their hatchlings mental health, isolation etc, when things eased up over the summer and they got back to school in Aug/Sep, do you think there were any lasting effects, or did they bounce back to normal?

BM was very anxious/volatile during the first lockdown and I can see it all kicking off again, but even with covid restrictions in school, I was amazed at how happy and well she was Aug-Nov (apart from one incident when she freaked out about a really crowded event). I suppose the hope she'll be the same the other side of this is keeping me going - it doesn't make things any less shit right now, but I worry less about medium/long term impact this time around.

[Dáire]

The littlest tried to be happy, but every day was a "will I be sent home again?" scenario, as people sent in their known-positive kids and led to multiple isolation periods. By the end she couldn't relax. It was all so fragile. I think those feelings will linger for some time.

The eldest was happier, though finding it hard to enjoy the sterile atmosphere - can only sit next the same child (an angry, sweary, violent problematic one) in every lesson, little mixing, no group work, little discussion and playtimes quite minimal. None of the trips that the school normally do to get the Y7s to know each other, not much opportunity to make new friends. He began to feel very lonely, missing his old primary school friendship group and with little to replace it with. He found it hard to describe', because 'we don't really do anything'. I hope he can experience at least some 'normal' high school during his time there.

[Heebie Jeebie]

Thanks for your thoughts, in that case I will send them when I write them. Actually I had to send a couple to the knob who cancelled a 9am meeting on Friday at 9.01, that I had spent time preparing for,so it's good for some people to see.

For people who are worried about their hatchlings mental health, isolation etc, when things eased up over the summer and they got back to school in Aug/Sep, do you think there were any lasting effects, or did they bounce back to normal?

There were lasting effects. School mentioned it on the parents night call and said it was across all age groups and they are working with the children so not to be worried. It was mostly about children struggling to play well together after having only been in adult company, especially those without siblings

[Luce]

I think there are definitely going to be lasting effects, sadly. I can’t tell at the moment, I think we’ll need to be fully out of this for a long time before we can properly assess whether there has been any damage.

[olive]

It was mostly about children struggling to play well together after having only been in adult company, especially those without siblings

I’ve noticed this with mine even though they have one another, T in particular. Three of his new teachers have described him as introverted and quiet last year which is not how you’d ever describe him. A couple of teachers that he knew said he wasn’t himself but he wasn’t the only one. I think it’s lots of different variables but I definitely think being at home with just us from March - August without much peer contact meant he’s lost a lot of confidence socially.

On the email thing - I’ve always tried to avoid sending emails outside of core working hours even though I work them so I’m one of the mass 8am email senders. Like Pov I work with a global team so I doubt anyone looks at the time though.

[Loralei]

I hope he can experience at least some 'normal' high school during his time there.

I'm really sorry to hear that. J's experience of starting Y7 has been so different. There's obviously a lot they can't do but it's normal enough not to bother him, given he doesn't have any other experience of secondary. It seems to vary so much between schools.

Berty and TD have been outwardly fine but TD is very clingy and has taken a step back re night time dryness (although he'd never truly cracked it). Berty is quite anxious about school being taken away again, as we are repeatedly warned that CW places are up for review at any time. Like most adults, they have borne it all well but the fact there is still no definite end in sight is beginning to wear them down.

[Flora Poste]

A and C were both ok once they got back to school - I'm hoping they get back with at least enough time to do secondary transition for A (she'll be devastated if they don't get to do their PGL trip though - she's been looking forward to it for the last 3 years).

E I'm more concerned about socially, although I do think she'll be ok in the long run. She's quite an independent little soul happy to play with anyone, but hasn't really made any close friendships - she had just settled really well into Reception when they went off after 6 months, and have obviously only been back a term before they are now off again, and I worry that she hasn't really made any proper friends - I'm sure that will come, and she is very close to her siblings.

[viggy]

The littlest tried to be happy, but every day was a "will I be sent home again?" scenario, as people sent in their known-positive kids and led to multiple isolation periods. By the end she couldn't relax. It was all so fragile. I think those feelings will linger for some time.

That sounds really hard It was the constant threat of being in and out school that I had been worried about, but in the end our school only had its first case where they had to send a class home in December.

I'm sorry to hear about the other hatchlings struggling too

[Ruby]

The only thing I've noticed, really, is that the chaps have become really lazy.

At school, a lot of our students responded really well to being back in school. We tend to see the better side of them though - they store up the emotion for home, quite often. The main problem was our Year 7s, who were somewhat feral. Some had big gaps in maturity and peer/social interaction.

Maybe there will be lasting effects? I don't know. Children with secure attachments are extremely resilient though. They will need to adapt and they won't have the ideal experience that every parent hopes they will. However, I think we maybe need to appreciate that it is a highly unusual situation and we can't inoculate them against a massive global event. I don't know, I feel like it's not normal so we can't expect them to behave normally.

[cluefree]

I think that too, Ruby. I need to feel that children are resilient, for lots of reasons. I also know that they really are, from personal experience. This is an unprecedented event in our lifetime. It’s going to take time.

[Pippedydeadeye]

If they are completely unscathed, then they must be psychopaths.

[smalex]

I think W adapted very well to being back at school over all. But he is an extremely laid back child, when all is said and done (ie. not in the lazy sense, but able to adapt to the needs of others and situations). Any mention of home school made him pull a face and say 'OH NO NOT THAT!' (and he cried on Tuesday which he next to never does unless he's in big trouble and he knows it). I know he misses his friends bitterly though. When he could play with them again in the summer he did it with almost manic zeal (he always enjoys it but y'know, this went a bit above and beyond) and then would be very noticably flat and upset when it was over.
It was very helpful that none of the bubbles had to close in the term they were back, which helped make it seem more stable from his POV.

I guess most kids will be fine overall, like most adults will be, once things normalise and some time passes. A few will thrive, plenty will be set back in any number of ways for a long time(or forever). They'll all be different in some ways, I guess we all will. Obviously it is what it is, I get that, but I also think there is plenty of very valid reason to be concerned and to be wary of signs they're finding it difficult. Almost all of of his hobbies outside the home have been stopped for what will clearly be over a year at least, and I worry a lot about how they've all been put in stasis a bit.

One of the boys in W's year is very anxious anyway (he has a chaotic home life) but regularly does things like scrub himself with soap (not in a good way!) or once covered himself with hand sanitiser because he's so anxious about 'the virus'. I really feel for the poor kid.

[smalex]

IMG-20210110-WA0002.jpg

Other reception parents, is this representative of what you're getting? My sister sent it to me in a bit of a hysterical flap (half laughing, half crying). My nephew is an August 4yr old, he's done one term at school. She works 3 days a week and has a 2 yr old at home as well. I'm having him on Mondays so I need to do some of this with him tomorrow (hello phonics, we meet again!). I said I thought they could sack off well being and 'expressive arts' (FFS!), physical activity (all of these on the timetable come with attached links, worksheets, or activities) on the basis they'll do plenty of walks etc together anyway, she's pretty well a tuned to his well being and she often does things like baking, art, construction games, musical activities etc etc with both of them anyway.

SOme of the items require you to have a range of craft materials, wallpaper upon which to do a collage, etc etc.

I said I thought she should concentrate on phonics and numbers and play the rest by ear. No point making it miserable. It's going to be very hard to crack through that much, especially when Neph 2 is at home.

eta: she's sent a video of the scroll through of what has been sent, each subject area broken down etc. It must be, 4 or 5 sides of A4, if printed at size 10/12 font.

[Froozy]

Oh, fuck that shit, Smal. Honestly. We were lucky to get S engaged in anything last year and he would have been 9m older than your nephew at that point. For the Y1s this year they're setting a daily challenge, a reading/writing task, a maths task and doing a video of them reading a chapter from a story every day, so to aim for more than that for reception kids seems daft.

We did lego, train track building, dot to dots and occasional cooking. At that age pretty much everything they do involves learning about something. I can understand wanting to provide structure for families who that will work well for but it's a lot of pressure for the families it won't suit.

[Kleio]

If he’s an august 4 year old and not 5 for another 8 months he doesn’t even have to be at school. Fuck it all off.

I’d do basic reading, phonics and maths and that’s it.

[Loralei]

That's similar to what TD was getting in LD1 for Y2 (in amount of work, not specific topics. His teacher said she knew some parents wanted structure, but not to worry if not all of it was done. It's very full on for Reception! I agree she should focus on phonics, maths and reading (reading to him, primarily, and asking questions about the story) and sack off everything else. She can send the teacher the odd message saying, "N helped make a cake/lunch today," or, "Today we went for a frosty walk," if she likes, to help appease their governmental overlords

Does he go to H school?

[ParisGal]

Obvs no experience here, but I think I'd be lumping things together like "How many SHeep are there on this mug? How many SHoes are in the hall? Are there more SHoes or more SHeep?" I think kids here learn actual writing a bit later, but trying to do any kind of paper-based work beyond colouring was so awful when I started with my reception pupil a couple of years ago that anything that enables learning without writing was gladly embraced by both of us

[smalex]

That was totally my reaction too. Absolute worst outcome is he rejects doing all of it, he can be quite obstinate when he takes against something. Obviously its her first experience of having a child in school too so while she can see its a bit nuts (and some of it might be there not necessarily for the benefit of families like hers) so I know why she feels a bit bewildered/not sure of rejecting some of it.

PG- some of it is definitely well beyond him. It says about writing a sentence while he struggles to do basic letter formation.

I think its made more difficult because the little girl next door is in his class, seems light years 'ahead' of him, and now has a KW place at school so she'll be going full time. Objectively they know they shouldn't feel pressured by it but its hard not to.