Parents please help me understand this. The idea of young kids wearing masks makes no sense to me. And I beg of you, please don’t attack me for asking these questions. I am being open and trying to grasp in my heart why this is okay with so many of you. I know that children can be carriers of this virus- and we don’t want the elderly or sick to die. I’m not heartless…
But at what cost are we damaging our kids?
This is not how I want to see kids growing up.
In the summer, I got on a school bus after an event. As everyone gets on board, the organisers give everyone a mask and pump sanitizer on our hands. The kids are all sitting silently wearing masks, gazing out the windows. No one is laughing, talking or, just behaving like I thought kids are supposed to behave. As I struggle to breath with my own mask – looking at these young children; my heart breaks.
It feels eerie and uncomfortable to me. Almost like a scene from the Twilight Zone.
I sit in my seat as one of the kids behind me starts snorting like a pig – then I hear giggles erupt throughout the back of the bus. The giggles get louder and louder. Turning around, I notice that a handful of them have made pig noses from the masks they are supposed to be wearing. It makes me laugh out loud and ask a young boy to show me how he did it. His face lights up with a massive toothy grin! I get a strange look from the adult sitting across the way and I sheepishly say
“I am sorry for being a bad adult. This Covid crap is a lot of BS, I hate wearing a mask and this is the first time I have laughed out loud in a long time.” Snorting with the kids causes me to smile. A large open mouth grin that I love to show off when I don’t have to hide it behind a mask. The woman and I lock eyes for a moment then she looks away. It seems like she was smiling with her eyes and I take it as a sign that my behavior is ok.
When we disembark, the woman looks me in the eye and says thank you. We stand a safe distance apart and start to talk. She has a tear in her eye as she pulls off her mask and she tells me that she agrees with me. Unfortunately, herself and her husband had been shamed by friends and family; being told they were ‘bad parents’ for not supporting kids wearing masks.
They don’t like it for themselves. However, like many others, they choose to comply as needed to avoid being shamed and bullied by other parents.
Just like me, she thinks the idea was that we could flatten the curve by taking percussions – not stopping our lives all together. Kids need to be kids and be free to live a life without fear. I ask permission to take a photo – and ask if she would mind if I post it and shar. We laugh a nervous laugh as we both know that it will be met with a lot of rage and and shaming for not following the rules.
Aren’t kids supposed to learn how to communicate with other people when they are young?
Facial expressions, hugs, laughing and getting a little dirty in the process are all things we associate as childhood. Facial expressions are crucial components of emotional signals. They allow people to understand and express not only emotions but also social motivation. Sounds to me like an imperative part of learning to communicate effectively as adults.
We have this thing called an immune system that is designed for this sort of thing. Wearing masks and disinfecting 100 times a day is NOT going to help that. Do you think that this will be an emotionally healthy way for this generation to grow up? Terrified of germs, not knowing what it means to shake hands with a stranger, thinking that by ‘breaking the rules’ they could kill grandma? No exchanging a smile when meeting someone from another race or culture?
Take a moment to think about this. Two toddlers meet for the first time, gender and race have no meaning to either of them. Yet, they both react with a smile and a hug.
I remember laughing at Howie Mandel (his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder turned him into a germaphobe) “I live freaked out,” Howie says of living with obsessive-compulsive disorder. “This is what is in my head each and every day, every hour of my 64 years on earth. This is it. The current reality is my daily nightmare, this is how I live and now the world has joined me in my nightmare.’
In my opinion, this is completely f*cked up.Do we want our children growing up in a daily nightmare?
My grandparents would have given their life for their kids and grandkids. They always said they lived a full happy life and just wanted the same for us. Yet, I have been attacked for being selfish when I question what the world is going to be like for them when all of us are dead anyways. Don’t you think it selfish that you are choosing to destroy your children’s future to save the lives of those who have already lived a full life?
And if you disagree with me – why all the hate? Why the angry comments and nasty private messages? Can’t you just share your opinions, like I have, and just be open and accepting to the fact that we all have different values when it comes to our health choices? Or that as parents, you all do the best you can. That is
