Parents’ COVID concerns
IT seems like there’s no end in sight to COVID-19, and as older students prepare to mask up to return to school in a few weeks, providing the school year starts as planned, the question arises about kindergarten students who will be returning to the world of the uncertain.
Parents who had made temporary arrangements for their preschool aged children now find themselves in a quandary — whether to continue these arrangements, or enrol the kids in an institution for September. As life adapts to the new normal, the fact of the matter is that temporary arrangements will have to come to an end, and education will need to continue for children to move to the next level in their schooling.
What are parents of younger children most worried about as they face the September term? Here, some parents dish on their fears.
Jessica McNally, mom of a three-year-old:
I worry about him being able to keep the mask on, and how practical it is. I’ve seen how these kids get in school, and I’d be fooling myself if I thought that he was going to sit perfectly still and social distance for the entire school day.
Janice Dias, mom of two (five and eight):
I worry about the other children and the teachers —where have they been, and who have they been around? I also worry a lot about sanitising, because the school hardly had water before for them to wash their hands. Where is the water going to come from now?
Alaine Solomon, mother of an 18-month-old:
The nursery called me last week to ask if she would be coming back, and I said yes. I have no choice because I’m back at work and the babysitter I have is eating me out of house and home, so to be honest I was anxiously waiting on the nursery to call. But I wonder about her getting sick, and how practical it really is for the daycare to operate in the current pandemic.
Lucille Morrison, mother of two-year-old twins:
I have a nanny and I will be keeping the kids at home for the near future. The only worry I have is that they won’t get to socialise with other children, and they won’t be taught as much as they would at school. And I also wonder everyday when the nanny comes, who was in the taxi with her, and who is in her home. Because I have to admit that just as how my kids could get sick at nursery, the nanny can also bring the illness into my home.
Matthew Harrison, dad of a four-year-old:
I worry about how practical it is to clean all the surfaces that the little hands touch at the nursery. So my daughter will probably get sick at some point, because we really have no choice but to send her. I guess we just have to hope and pray.
Everton Brown, dad of a 22-month-old:
I’m not so worried about my son getting COVID as kids are resilient, what I’m worried about is him getting it and passing it to my mother who lives with us. We all have to prepare to get it at some point. He has to go to the nursery because we have jobs to go to, and we can’t afford to pay a helper. So my biggest worry is my mother, because truth be told, we can’t expect the nursery to keep up COVID protocols for the long term with all those rambunctious kids.
