Effect of Pandemic

Hi. My son has always struggled with understanding and other things in school, but up until the first lockdown when he was in year 7 he managed to get there. Homework has always been a challenge.

When lockdown started and all the work was at home and lots of reading and understanding, until later there were some live lessons, it was often too much. During the first lockdown and summer even going outdoors was a challenge. So when they returned to school going in was often for parts of days, sometimes whole days and other days it was too much.

As time went on he gradually became more confident going out, but getting into school most days has been a challenge for him. When he makes it I often sense the struggle he goes through to get there.

I know I will never know the answer, but I wonder if things would have been any easier now without that time not in school. I think for his wellbeing the time at home helped.

I would be interested to hear of other people's experiences.

Parents
  • Hi, I personally miss the lockdown quite a lot at times- It was peaceful and I still got to go to the lab (I am a scientist) to run experiments but I did not have to do desk work from there which was great (plus no pressure to socialise or having to find a reason to avoid joint breaks/lunch etc- I did really like my colleagues though so I think I would have liked to spend more time with them though). I also realised I very much like online forms of socialising (eg. phone calls or video calls) and I prefer that over in person a lot of the time. I never met up with groups of people anyways so that was fine for me too and I love going for walks with people so when that was allowed it was a win-win for me too. However, I did also feel quite lonely during the second lockdown (I think possibly because of how/where I was living), though I am not sure it would have been much different without the lockdown. I loved the quiet on the streets as well when I did go out. 

    School can be tough- it was for me. The challenge of it is probably even more noticable after a time away from it. Plus any change in routine is difficult anyways. But I think it is very important to have time to recuperate from things like school. I always barely made it from vacation to vacation. Odly though now that I am older and love my job I have the issue of finding weekends/days away from work very very hard to cope with... I think maybe due to the change in routine... not sure .

Reply
  • Hi, I personally miss the lockdown quite a lot at times- It was peaceful and I still got to go to the lab (I am a scientist) to run experiments but I did not have to do desk work from there which was great (plus no pressure to socialise or having to find a reason to avoid joint breaks/lunch etc- I did really like my colleagues though so I think I would have liked to spend more time with them though). I also realised I very much like online forms of socialising (eg. phone calls or video calls) and I prefer that over in person a lot of the time. I never met up with groups of people anyways so that was fine for me too and I love going for walks with people so when that was allowed it was a win-win for me too. However, I did also feel quite lonely during the second lockdown (I think possibly because of how/where I was living), though I am not sure it would have been much different without the lockdown. I loved the quiet on the streets as well when I did go out. 

    School can be tough- it was for me. The challenge of it is probably even more noticable after a time away from it. Plus any change in routine is difficult anyways. But I think it is very important to have time to recuperate from things like school. I always barely made it from vacation to vacation. Odly though now that I am older and love my job I have the issue of finding weekends/days away from work very very hard to cope with... I think maybe due to the change in routine... not sure .

Children
  • Personally I agree with your thoughts on lockdown and preferring calls although occasionally missing having brief casual conversations in passing, but don't miss the forced socializing. I too liked the walks in the quiet.

    I find it hard at times when the week changes from routine of work to a fairly free time. I look forward to having time to do things then it all feels an effort. I guess this is similar to my son's experience.