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On Sunday, the Victorian government announced its back-to-school plan – balancing the competing needs of getting children back in the classroom without overwhelming the healthcare system.
Following the announcement, telling my children, aged four, eight and 10, that they would be returning to school and kinder next week seemed a bit of a tough gig to sell. My 10-year-old was quick to highlight the high case numbers and argue that homeschooling should be an option until he has had the opportunity to be double vaccinated.
Telling my children that they would be returning to school and kinder next week seemed a bit of a tough gig to sell.Credit:Sup
Despite my own concerns, I dug deep, mustering all the enthusiasm and reassurance I could. The medical consensus is that children don’t become that unwell when exposed to COVID-19 (unless they are immunocompromised or have an underlying health condition) and that any delay in returning to school poses a further risk to their wellbeing.
It has been well publicised that the mental health of children has suffered throughout the pandemic, and this must be at the forefront of any decision-making.
But it is still difficult to look my children in the eye and tell them they will be fine. The weight of the responsibility for my unvaccinated four-year-old, who definitely does not understand about social distancing, is even greater.
Soon after the announcement, we received a reassuring email from our children’s school – strongly recommending twice-a-week testing for students and staff (miraculously, to be supplied to us) and advising that air purifiers have been received to be used in conjunction with other ventilation measures.
However, what I have come to see after talking with my children is that statistics and promised safety measures only go so far. For the past two years, they have learnt to fear this virus.
They have seen the world go to extreme measures to avoid contracting it – schools closed, their parents working from home, radius limits and curfews, separation from those they love and stories of many becoming unwell and dying.
At this point, just like any other in this pandemic, none of us really know what’s coming next or how this return to school will play out.
We can’t expect that all children are going to feel confident returning, especially when many of their parents are still working from home and cancellations and closures abound.
As Monday approaches, I’ll be making sure I give my children the space to voice their fears and listen without being too quick to offer apparent solutions or reassurances. However well-intended, dismissing their concerns will invariably bring about a worsening of their mental health upon their return to school, rather than the anticipated improvement.
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