Lockdown kids will be ok, if we let them be - Susan Morrison

Post-war, amazingly, the kids bounced back. Classrooms filled. Schools pounded to the ground by the Luftwaffe were rebuilt and reopened. That generation went on to be fearsomely well taught. Some went on to be fearsome teachers. I know, I was in their classrooms.

Today, our kids are suffering from a mental health epidemic. They’re scared and worried. Not surprised.

We’re the ones making them scared and worried. When we closed the schools, we sent them home to parents already struggling to ‘work from home’, then we landed two tons of school work on their heads.

I know of parents with two or three school age children. Battling through work, financial fear and the finer points of calculus makes for a pressure cooker at the kitchen table. Mind you, it has given parents a serious appreciation for the outstanding work of our teachers.

All the time, the children can hear the adults wailing. Our children are losing a year of education. This lost ground must be made up and right smartly. Suggestions are hurled about. Summer schools. Weekend bootcamps. More homework.

For the love of Pete, lay off the kids. Yes, we’re missing a year. So is the rest of the world. It’s not like Kiribati has secretly been tutoring their sixth year to emerge from this pandemic global leaders in maths and geometry.

When this summer comes, it looks like our children can get out to beaches, parks and, crucially, granny and grandad’s house, and without fear. Leave off the talk of pumped-up education.

For one thing, you’ll probably switch an entire generation off from the love of learning.

It’s a year. Time can be made up. Two of the most gifted academics I know left school with nothing, but became world-leaders in their fields.

Relax. Our kids will be ok, if we let them be.