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1. I've worked in children's services for 25 yrs and can't imagine anything else. The same for my colleagues across many agencies. We love it. Yet we are consistently frustrated by our 'Cinderella service' status. If you thought mental health wore this crown, try children's MH.
This is despite a clear consensus across research and policy bodies that early intervention and prevention makes sound econoomic sense; as well as the obvious point that it is the right thing to do. Noone EVER disagrees with this....until it comes to investing money.
Coronavirus has brought this into sharp relief. The impact of lockdown on children and their well-being has been bottom of the prioritisation pile since schools closed in March. In many ways I get it. This was a physical health emergency that impacted children least of all.
An analogy I use is if you were on a family picnic and an elderly relative needed CPR you would do it even though it would be scary for your children to watch. No question. But if it kept happening you would make different plans, not just keep exposing them to passive watching..
That's what we are doing now. We are preparing everything in our society to live alongside the risk of Covid 19 and our children are last on the list not first. We can shop in Primark, order from Amazon, have homes cleaned but they can't play with their friends. I could go on....
I am not in the business of shaming anyone, myself included. This has been an impossible task all hampered by decision making in the context of terrible fear and terrible compromise. But I do want to reflect on why, yet again, it feels like children are bottom of the list.
My first thought is not new. Children are powerless and have no economic or voting weight. Yup. It's as simple as that. My second thought is the complexity of children's lives. School is a perfect example. Most are missing out but some are better off.
In children's services we see this nuance all the time. We call it systemic practice....things aren't black and white, all or nothing. They are grey, variable, more or less, uncertain. It's why we love it. It's also why we can't fight in quite the clear cut way other sectors do.
Closing business is bad. Open it up! Verses closing schools is bad, except some children have thrived and the relief of no exams has been so positive for some and more time with loving parents has been a good thing.....get the picture? This is true of so much of children's lives.
And those of us who work with them are used to treading a fine line between what they need and what those supporting them are able to give. It is always a compromise. And it's probably why we have stayed quiet for so long. We understand the impossible situation everyone is in.
Perhaps that's the problem. But if we don't shout for them who will? Even if it is complicated and messy. We are very creative too which is the point of starting this thread. Most importantly a little bit goes a very long way in children's lives. Here are a few ideas:
Year 13s pairing with year tens for 1:1 zoom lessons. Could our volunteer organisations help with the coordination and safe guarding?
Or safely spaced sessions in local libraries?
Or safely spaced sessions in local libraries?
Year 7s writing to year six about exactly what to expect in high school..... acknowledging it will be different for them too......imagine receiving a hand written letter from someone who understands your worries exactly.
Large village halls and function suites for safely spaced gatherings of pupils when they are not in formal school settings. Could sports and music students and student teachers help coordinate activities? Choirs! Orchestras in ball rooms? Simon says?
Volunteers at playgrounds with cleaning materials just like you have waiting to go into supermarkets. If you can queue to push a trolley surely you can queue to push a swing?
A drive past in a large carpark to see your teacher and tell her your news....if you can queue for a drive in Starbucks surely that wait is worth its weight in gold?
Please share ideas of how we can get children out and connecting in the real world in a way that is safe. If government can pay to furlough people to do nothing surely they can pay them to do something? Our young people need occupation and goals to work towards, what better?
