BB2 needs to spend time with other kids, she’s 7 ffs and has spent most of the past 9 months with people not her age, we can see it impacting her mental health.
Absolutely this.
My daughter turned 8 during the November lockdown. Her birthday party was a chaotic Zoom call with some friends. She was pleased to have it but it was clear to her it wasn't the same as a real party.
I remember being 7 as a pivotal age. When the world opened up. When my horizons suddenly expanded beyond my family and the toys on front of me. When friends became important. Asserting independence. Playing with friends in their park. Getting dropped off at friends houses. Doing our thing without parents around. A key stage of becoming who I am.
My daughter's not had much of that while she was 7. She's been stuck at home with her mum and dad and little brother. Going out has been limited to the same few local places. We've done our best to enliven her life, but what she needs at that age is to be around her friends. And we've seen the impact on her. In lockdown 1, once the novelty of staying home and home schooling wore off, she got quite low. She's always been adventurous, sociable, thrill seeking - all things that aren't on the menu at the moment. In May she retreated into watching hours of Pokemon cartoons as an escape from the boredom. With things opening up in the summer she could see friends in the park again and going back to school in September revived her, though she quickly noticed that all the other stuff - day trips, parties, hanging out at friends houses, the Xmas school play (which she loves) - wasn't happening. Being at school during lockdown 2 meant it was only the weekends that she noticed the limits on what there was to do, but she coped okay with it.
It was boxing day when it hit her this time, once the excitement of Christmas wore off. Since then she's been really down again, showing no interest in doing anything new and no interest in any of the things she's bored of doing. I dread to think of the impact on her if primary schools don't open again next week. So yeah, if they're open she's going back.
When the schools shut in March there was lots of bullish talk about 'kids will bounce back'. But I'm not sure many people had any idea how long this would go on for at that point. Do people remember how long a year lasts when you're 7? They stretch on forever. I do worry about the long term impact this will have on some kids, as necessary as the lockdowns are.
