Bonjour lecteurs! Feeling like I am going a bit too far when I ask if the government has let parents down during the pandemic? Well, think again… It is quite obvious that the current school situation is going to have a massive impact on families. Not only on kids’ wellbeing but also on parents’ jobs. And sadly, I feel that mums will be first impacted on the long-term. What has been put into place for us? No financial support can ever cover what will happen to our career…and more!
100 Days of Lockdown
This week officially marks 100 days of lockdown. Yes, over 25% of the year with the kids at home.
And I am sure you know it. It is intense, non-stop. Get up, breakfast, homeschool, cook, clean, snack, play, learn, cook, clean and repeat?
What a routine!
Again, I can not really complain. Baba has been back to the nursery for 2 weeks. So I am ever feeling so grateful that I can now go back to work as normal.
And I don’t even know how I survived the last 3 months or so. Let alone parents who still currently have kids at home right now while working…
New Induction In September
I genuinely thought that with the gradual lockdown ease, it will only get easier. Well… Not quite!
Baba is starting primary school in September and I received more info about the induction.
What would normally happen in July to get the kids ready for their first school year will now have to take place in September.
He is basically going to go to school half an hour a day the first week, to then do a few hours before going half a day.
Eventually, his first full day will be at the end of September! But who knows if it will happen later!
Bring It On September!
Horreur! When I discovered the new induction planned, I was truly horrified!
It basically means that Baba is going to be back at home pretty much full time with me the whole month…
September is one of the months in terms of projects and work and I am already dreading it!
How are we going to manage? The last three months have already been challenging enough ?
School Not Fully Back
I thought we were seeing the end of this tunnel, but far from it…
Back to get up at dawn to get some work done and make money on the way! You know, so we can pay our mortgage…
And the joys of homeschooling, because I don’t want him to fall behind and have a great start.
I can’t even complain about the school. Its team has truly been amazing so far at providing us with resources so that this new start doesn’t feel too much for our little ones.
And communication is great. I know they have my back and all the school staff work bloody hard to make the induction as smooth as possible.
BUT…
I Feel Angry
I am just annoyed! It feels that once more, education is the least of the government’s priorities.
More importantly, parents are let down big time and there will be huge consequences in the long term.
Mums are more likely to deal with it and put their career on the side.
Many parents rely on schools to cover their childcare for them to work. And they will have to carry on this juggle!
For primary age kids, it has already been a nightmare. I can not even imagine how parents with SEN children cope! Or single parents.
Women In the Workplace
Let’s face it. Employers have been great at accommodating flexible working over the last few months but with the lockdown easing, it is not going to carry on!
And who will be affected first-hand? Women! All the progress we have made in the workplace environment will be pushed back.
Because let’s face it, in 85% of households women took over, dealing with the children and the homeschooling business.
It is in our nature and very often, the man is still the bread-winner so they are the ones working while we have to give a break to our career… Back to a traditional family set up?
Where Education Really Happens
And don’t get me wrong, I completely understand why schools aren’t fully operating and will not be for a long time.
But consequences from distance learning will be considerable, academically, socially, and mentally. For both children and parents.
The truth is, education happens at school, not at home with stressed parents trying to make a living!
Because there, children develop skills that are more important than counting and reading.
However hard parents try. We are not designed to do this.
And you can be as positive as you want, this will reflect in the years to come for all your famille…
Has The Government Let Down Parents During The Pandemic?
So my question to you is… Has Government Let Down Parents During The Pandemic? Do you feel burn out?
It is so uncertain at the minute. The Prime Minister has shown his desire for kids to go back to school in September. Yet, I can not stop but think it is not happening anytime soon.
How are you coping with it at the minute? Will you still be homeschooling during the official summer holidays?
Are you seeing a gloom future for your career as a parent? What kind of support do you have in place so that you can find a balance in those strange times?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and bonne chance for the next few weeks homeschooling before les vacances!
I feel at this time i am losing the childrens attention while trying to homeschool, im not a teacher, ive tried to make it fun, but i honestly think they would be better at school, then the other part of me thinks will our children be safe, i like i feel many parents are, are in a dilemma, what is best
You should email this to your local MP, this is a great argument
An interesting post xx
Home schooling has been very difficult, both me and husband working full time at home, with 2 kids there’s been good and bad days. However we’ve made it work.
My youngest returned to school this week. He hates it but he is better the attention he needs. Routine and more exercise. My older son has a few hours a week to do online lessons.
Over 25% if the year at home, that sounds like a long time, putting bit like this. As for the government and how they have managed this, it’s hard to comment. Trying to keep the spread minimal. Now places are starting not open, we need to the economy up and running. Fingers crossed we don’t get a 2nd wave.
However we have had fun too. I usually work in a office, I have enjoyed being at home and spending this time with my family. Once in a lifetime experience.
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Yes I think many people enjoyed the extra quality time as a family. I did too. But as you said, the economy needs to go up and running again now
I do agree with you that parents have been let down by the Government during lockdown and to be honest have let many other things down too, eg Care Homes. Everything seems to be an after thought
It’s so hard anyway when they start primary school due to the fact they literally have about 4 weeks of a few hours a day which is hard when you need to work around it all, I hope it all goes smoothly for September and we all get back to normal with the kids in school properly.
It is a tough one, I am thankful not to be having to make such decisions that affect peoples lives. It is hard to know what is best, we have never gone through anything like this before ever, so little by little is the only solution. It affects everyones lives in different ways, so hard.
Many issue through lockdown – the enquiry will be interesting to read
We will be carrying on home schooling during the holidays. They have missed so much school and I also think, they have been at home for a long time now! So having some structure during the holidays will do them some good. We have been doing an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, plus adding in some life skills and exercise through the week. I think carrying on something similar will be good, but we plan to reduce to learning to maybe an hour? We will see how it goes. I do feel its wrong that the government has said we can go on holiday, go to the pub/restaurants but children can’t go to school or any places where you can exercise?? That I feel let down on.
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Yes I totally agree! It is absolute nonsense that we can go to the pub or all gather at the beach but schools are dangerous for kids?!! It is insane 🙁 Not only it will impact on women and their space in the workplace. But it will impact on a generation of kids and their life in the future. I am very angry that kids are not important enough to Boris & co…
I agree with you! My son had been struggling in school just before lockdown, had spent the last 7 months + trying to get him into school… on time! We had finally managed it and all was starting to go well. With all this lockdown and long time away from school, I know we will be back to square one again! When he doesn’t do something for along time, he finds it hard to do it again. I really wish school would be more of a priority for this reason and so so many more! I worry for my sons future.
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I think many parents do now. Plus what is super frustrating is that shops are open, pubs too. People go to the beach but no school?! It makes no sense 🙁
Interesting read!
They’ve not considered enough at all . They locked down too late lost thousands of lives and people are suffering . Our children are important and their lifting restrictions are silly . Opening pubs and beaches . Herding Community . Our children need school but having them social distancing is pretty awful . My grandson went back he’s 6 but they forget easily how to stay apart. I am angry that after all this time grandparents can visit in the home but now on earth can a 6 year old not want hugs . Social distance in the home but no cuddles ! ?
i think the goverment could certainly have done a lot better
Great post, I really worry about the long term mental health of our children, I think all this is going to have such long term effects on them. A lot of children really seem to want to get back to school again and see their friends, I hope we can get things safely back to a new kind of normal for them soon.
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Yes I think we should. After all shops, pubs etc are open so time to learn again too!
We arnt doing too bad tyo he honest. My daughter is in the key worker bubbles do used to being in school during this time. I’ve had good communication throughout from the school. Throughout the holidays, I will continue to help learn my daughter life skills and work is there should she want to do it, but I won’t push her.
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Oh that sounds so good she was able to be at school! Lucky you 🙂
I’m so lucky my little one is only 7 months old, but it’s so frustrating what you can and can’t do when you compare them!
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Oh yes the age of children makes a huge difference
It has been really tough homeschooling my little girl and working from home. I’m lucky though that at least I have been able to work from home and that my employer has made this possible. I am concerned about how this is going to impact my daughter though, as although I have tried my best with homeschooling, I am not a teacher so there are some areas which I haven’t been able to do as much as the school could have.
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Don’t worry, we are all in the same bag and many of us feel this way. This is why it is time now schools take over 🙂 Good luck! Soon it will be the Summer Holiday
I am sorry you have been finding things so difficult. Everything is so uncertain and that is difficult to deal with.
I think that it has been difficult for everyone, including the government, during this unprecedented period. Although the government definitely did themselves irreparable damage by supporting Dominic Cummings contraventions of the rules. I can see both points of view regarding childrens education, however I am dismayed by the number of parents who seem to think that it is fine to take their children out on not so social distanced outings to the beach, pubs etc whilst saying how dangerous it would be for them to return to school. If children start catching a mutated form of COVID or simply passing on the current form, everyone will be up in arms that children were allowed to return to the classroom. So basically there are no winners (except supermarkets & mask makers)
The government acted late in doing anything at all, BUT the British public have acted like a bunch of idiots in their behaviour and we are seeing further lockdowns in areas where social distancing was blatantly ignored!
I think the government has let everybody down, they are prioritising the wrong things and not acting as quickly as they should
I think that it’s not just parents who have been let down by the government. They have basically made a complete hash of handling the pandemic, as evidenced by the fact that the UK has far worse figures in terms of deaths based on population, than most other countries.
Interesting Read
Very interesting post !
Home school has been really difficult in our house, my kids range in age from 2-13 years. My teenager has been left to get on with her own work that i have printed off. My 8 year old reads and does the odd few times tables and the 5 year old will not engage in anything. I feel they will have fallen behind and still i cant see an end to any of this. The town next to us is close to been in lockdown again and when we were in Lockdown the worst of the cases were in London but we havent seen the numbers they have. I think its all still to come here in the North of England
I’ve heard so many saying how hard they’ve found it, and I think the general feeling really is one of being let down and not adequately supported. Lots of love to you!
Homeschooling is tough but with time and patience we’ll manage. Times are so weird right now
I think all kids should have had laptops so they could stay connected to friends and lessons . I know a family who had to use mum’s phone to do their homework
I actually think that the government has handled this fairly well considering this whole situation was unprecedented (And I didn’t even vote for them!) The problem is no matter what decisions are made Somebody Somewhere won’t be happy about it. I think it has been so difficult for everyone especially parents, but honestly we could put a positive spin on it and say this is time with children you will NEVER have again!
I don’t think the government can win. If they close schools and tell us to keep children at home to keep everyone safe, we complain about homeschooling and trying to work around the little ones.
If they tell us the schools are open again and to send the kids back, we complain that we don’t believe it’s safe and we worry whether they will be able to catch up with what they’ve missed.
Leo is due to start school in September too and we are all anxious about it because he hasn’t had a chance to spend time in his school before starting full time. I don’t blame the govenrment for it though, I think we would be anxious even in normal times.
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Baba will start school too in September and its future place has been amazing on keeping us updated. However, I feel like it will not be a proper start. And I am worried about how he is going to find the change as he has been at home with us for so long. The adaptation will be more difficult for both him and his teachers.
I really enjoyed reading this post and the comments. I think we’ve all been let down. The rules make no sense. I have a friend who’s an estate agent. At the beginning all house sales etc were stopped, when they lifted that restriction my friend was allowed to go into the office and be around all of her colleagues. She was allowed to show a family of strangers, around a family of strangers home, but she wasn’t allowed to see her own family. That’s just one example of things that have been done that seem illogical but there are many more. That’s why people have rebelled against the rules.
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I totally agree with you. And this is why I am even more annoyed. We can go to the shop, drink a beer at the pub, manifest on the street with thousands of other people. But no education for our kids and by now, many parents struggle with it all. It is a mess 🙁
I just hope that the actions of a few now, don’t undo all of the sacrifice of the many for all those weeks in lockdown…
It’s not just parents though, is it?! You (and those who’ve responded) have made some good points, but I feel the government’s whole handling of this epidemic has been lamentable. First we’re told one thing; a few days later the thinking and policy on that topic has shifted completely the other way. It’s often seemed as if the Government is making up policy ‘on the hoof’, as they go along. The message has often been vague and confusing (Stay ‘alert’?!) and frequently not adhered to by even the government’s inner circle, as evidenced by that risible Dominic Cummings/Barnard Castle fiasco. I think everyone should be very, very angry.
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Yes I agree totally with you. I am talking her about parents as it is my audience but you are totally right saying that everyone was let down
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Yes I agree totally with you. I am talking here about parents as it is my audience but you are totally right saying that everyone was let down
Quite an interesting read. Thanks for sharing with us.
The government have let down parents by making life so much more difficult at this already trying time. They should of started the kids at part time and eased back into it from there, instead of keeping them off for so long completely.
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I could not agree more. Other countries did it fine and yet again, the UK can not cope…
yes goverment has been a complete let down