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One thing that stroke me yesterday looking at my 13-year old is that children actually suffer more than adults. While we are allowed to take occasional walk ou

One thing that stroke me yesterday looking at my 13-year old is that children actually suffer more than adults. While we are allowed to take occasional walk out of our homes ( groceries, etc), they are totally locked up - no friends, no school socializing, everything is virtual only. If this lockdown lasts for any long period of time, it might backfire badly on them.

HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
This is a really good point that I think people will slowly figure out. We live in a rural area with essentially no school age kids nearby, so we're very aware that during summer, Christmas break, etc, we have to arrange ways to keep our 10 year-old in contact with kids his age. In summer we usually sign him up for the in-school daycare a couple days a week so he can see his friends and we also arrange to visit other families with kids he knows frequently, trips to the park, library, etc. However, in the current situation, that's all gone flying out the window. A least, because of where we live, there's lots of space to go outside and play without coming into contact with anyone outside this household. I shudder to think how quickly we'd all go insane trapped in a small apartment!
- dorchadas 7y ago
  Bias warning: I am a public school teacher myself. And this is also exactly what I feel the people who are now pushing for online schooling in general don't get (apart from the fact there's a non-negligible part of the population that doesn't have consistent/good internet access). There's a lot more to school than just going and learning 'stuff that doesn't affect real life', as some seem to believe. It's about social learning as well, and they're completely underestimating how much this happens in schools.
  - Kaiyou 7y ago
    Because maybe in their experience - it definitely was in mine - it didn't happen at all in school. I always disliked school because of the other students that got in the way of my peaceful life. Never had a single friend throughout school and college, either. Maybe you think social learning just happens by putting kids together, but that's bullshit. People like me who'd needed it the most didn't get any of it during school. There also wasn't much in regards to an education. In hindsight, school was a complete waste of my time, that at times negatively affected me because of bullies nobody did anything about. If only beating was still a thing when I went to school, then the teachers maybe would have beaten the shit out of the bullies, so they'd have to first spend a week in the hospital before getting suspended on top of that. Sorry, thinking of school always makes me angry.
    - klodolph 7y ago
      > Maybe you think social learning just happens by putting kids together, but that's bullshit. Not to put too fine a point on it—but I don’t think that very many people who work in education think this way. Especially not the teachers running the classrooms. You leave children to their own devices and you get Lord of the Flies, which was written by William Golding, who based the book on his experiences as a schoolteacher. My personal advice, as someone who “survived” school, is that intense feelings of anger in reaction to school add too much color. You have to wait and let the logical, non-angry patterns re-emerge in your own mind each time that anger reappears.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      School was bad for you. An alternative would have been good. Sure. But was school bad for everyone? If you never had a friend all the way through college, you are nowhere the majority.
      - Kaiyou 7y ago
        So not being the majority makes it okay to completely dismiss me? Was corporal punishment bad for every kid? Is waging war bad for everyone involved? It's a dishonest question.
chatmasta 7y ago
Children/teenagers are also losing a time of their life they will never get back. For example, if you're a junior in high school looking to get recruited to college for a spring sport, you're basically out of luck. This kind of extended hiatus from everyday life can alter entire life trajectories.
- gvjddbnvdrbv 7y ago
  Death alters it rather more. Without these measures a lot of folk will die a lot sooner than they should.
  - SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
    Come on, man. Acknowledging the harms of an extended lockdown isn't an argument that we should ignore the harms of death.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  > For example, if you're a junior in high school looking to get recruited to college for a spring sport, you're basically out of luck. Isn't that same for every junior in high school? Are recruiters going to be happy to miss out an entire year?
  - chatmasta 7y ago
    Sure. The kids who are disadvantaged are the ones who were poised to have a breakout year this season. So recruiters just won’t notice them, as opposed to the prospects that were already known. Basically, anyone is disadvantaged who would normally have a small window of opportunity to prove something right now.
jacoblambda 7y ago
Something to note is that depending on where you live, people can still go outside. They just need to stay away from people. If you live in a suburban or rural environment odds are there are at least walking paths nearby. Go on a walk, run, or bike ride. Nothing in those activities requires interacting with others as long as you keep a mind to keep your distance and they do wonders for keeping the cabin fever at bay. Not meaning to rant, just something I wanted to get off my chest since people keep talking about being trapped indoors when practising social distancing (not quarantine. people under quarantine need to stay as isolated as possible).
- Mediterraneo10 7y ago
  In France at least, the lockdown already stipulates no bike riding. And even if one goes out for a walk or jog, one cannot go more than 1 km from one's home. This situation is expected to last many weeks more. Cabin fever is a real concern.
  - aivisol 7y ago
    In Spain no walking, biking, jogging etc is allowed. If you have a dog, you can walk it max 100m from your home. But as I said above, we, adults can understand and cope with it easier than kids. And sadly, when we make our decisions, needs of children often is an aftertought.
  - jacoblambda 7y ago
    That's a fair point. I wasn't aware that any state had placed those kinds of restrictions but I suppose it is reasonable when in a densely populated area. I could however see this kind of restriction getting unreasonable and unenforceable very quickly.
watwut 7y ago
Whatsapp ... they spend hours there connecting and disconnecting while doing stuff ... we encourage that now.

HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago

This is a really good point that I think people will slowly figure out. We live in a rural area with essentially no school age kids nearby, so we're very aware that during summer, Christmas break, etc, we have to arrange ways to keep our 10 year-old in contact with kids his age. In summer we usually sign him up for the in-school daycare a couple days a week so he can see his friends and we also arrange to visit other families with kids he knows frequently, trips to the park, library, etc. However, in the current situation, that's all gone flying out the window. A least, because of where we live, there's lots of space to go outside and play without coming into contact with anyone outside this household. I shudder to think how quickly we'd all go insane trapped in a small apartment!

dorchadas 7y ago
Bias warning: I am a public school teacher myself. And this is also exactly what I feel the people who are now pushing for online schooling in general don't get (apart from the fact there's a non-negligible part of the population that doesn't have consistent/good internet access). There's a lot more to school than just going and learning 'stuff that doesn't affect real life', as some seem to believe. It's about social learning as well, and they're completely underestimating how much this happens in schools.
- Kaiyou 7y ago
  Because maybe in their experience - it definitely was in mine - it didn't happen at all in school. I always disliked school because of the other students that got in the way of my peaceful life. Never had a single friend throughout school and college, either. Maybe you think social learning just happens by putting kids together, but that's bullshit. People like me who'd needed it the most didn't get any of it during school. There also wasn't much in regards to an education. In hindsight, school was a complete waste of my time, that at times negatively affected me because of bullies nobody did anything about. If only beating was still a thing when I went to school, then the teachers maybe would have beaten the shit out of the bullies, so they'd have to first spend a week in the hospital before getting suspended on top of that. Sorry, thinking of school always makes me angry.
  - klodolph 7y ago
    > Maybe you think social learning just happens by putting kids together, but that's bullshit. Not to put too fine a point on it—but I don’t think that very many people who work in education think this way. Especially not the teachers running the classrooms. You leave children to their own devices and you get Lord of the Flies, which was written by William Golding, who based the book on his experiences as a schoolteacher. My personal advice, as someone who “survived” school, is that intense feelings of anger in reaction to school add too much color. You have to wait and let the logical, non-angry patterns re-emerge in your own mind each time that anger reappears.
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    School was bad for you. An alternative would have been good. Sure. But was school bad for everyone? If you never had a friend all the way through college, you are nowhere the majority.
    - Kaiyou 7y ago
      So not being the majority makes it okay to completely dismiss me? Was corporal punishment bad for every kid? Is waging war bad for everyone involved? It's a dishonest question.

chatmasta 7y ago

Children/teenagers are also losing a time of their life they will never get back. For example, if you're a junior in high school looking to get recruited to college for a spring sport, you're basically out of luck. This kind of extended hiatus from everyday life can alter entire life trajectories.

gvjddbnvdrbv 7y ago
Death alters it rather more. Without these measures a lot of folk will die a lot sooner than they should.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
  Come on, man. Acknowledging the harms of an extended lockdown isn't an argument that we should ignore the harms of death.
SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
> For example, if you're a junior in high school looking to get recruited to college for a spring sport, you're basically out of luck. Isn't that same for every junior in high school? Are recruiters going to be happy to miss out an entire year?
- chatmasta 7y ago
  Sure. The kids who are disadvantaged are the ones who were poised to have a breakout year this season. So recruiters just won’t notice them, as opposed to the prospects that were already known. Basically, anyone is disadvantaged who would normally have a small window of opportunity to prove something right now.

jacoblambda 7y ago

Something to note is that depending on where you live, people can still go outside. They just need to stay away from people. If you live in a suburban or rural environment odds are there are at least walking paths nearby. Go on a walk, run, or bike ride. Nothing in those activities requires interacting with others as long as you keep a mind to keep your distance and they do wonders for keeping the cabin fever at bay. Not meaning to rant, just something I wanted to get off my chest since people keep talking about being trapped indoors when practising social distancing (not quarantine. people under quarantine need to stay as isolated as possible).

Mediterraneo10 7y ago
In France at least, the lockdown already stipulates no bike riding. And even if one goes out for a walk or jog, one cannot go more than 1 km from one's home. This situation is expected to last many weeks more. Cabin fever is a real concern.
- aivisol 7y ago
  In Spain no walking, biking, jogging etc is allowed. If you have a dog, you can walk it max 100m from your home. But as I said above, we, adults can understand and cope with it easier than kids. And sadly, when we make our decisions, needs of children often is an aftertought.
- jacoblambda 7y ago
  That's a fair point. I wasn't aware that any state had placed those kinds of restrictions but I suppose it is reasonable when in a densely populated area. I could however see this kind of restriction getting unreasonable and unenforceable very quickly.

watwut 7y ago

Whatsapp ... they spend hours there connecting and disconnecting while doing stuff ... we encourage that now.