Anonymous wrote:DS is three and started a five hour a day preschool wearing his mask. He’s advanced verbally, has zero problem wearing his mask, speaks up clearly, and loves his masked teachers.

I have no clue if the mask offers protection or not but it’s simply not a big deal.

I don’t get parents threatening to bring guns to school if their kid is masked!

Your kid, who is advanced verbally is doing fine. That’s why you are not bothered. Just like all the parents whose kids were doing well in virtual school didn’t mind virtual school. Some of us have kids who are bothered by masks (we know because they tell us) and have trouble being understood wearing a mask (which we know, because their teacher tells us). So our experience is different, could you please do us the courtesy of believing us?

I was a full supporter of masks before vaccines were fully available, and yes during the height of an incredible surge. But they are uncomfortable and bother some kids and I don’t want them to have to wear them forever. Are you fine for your kids to wear masks another two years? I think we just all have our limits and many people think the benefit of masks is getting smaller every day while the cost remains the same…

My 3.5 yr old is not bothered in the least. He’s been in preschool (5 hours a day) since September and all the kids are masked. They only take them off to eat snack and lunch outside (we live in a warm weather state). No nap period. The teachers are masked. The parents are masked at drop off and pick up. Temp checks every morning and covid tested once a week. Strict restrictions on quarantine after travel. Not one case of covid so far.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was fine with it until recently when I saw that the WHO recommends that children under 6 shouldn’t mask.

+1

I assume the question is do I mind that my preschooler is required to wear a mask at daycare. I do not care what other preschoolers do.

My answer is, no, not really. It's fine. But I don't think it is helping significantly, and would have a preference for masks to be not required for the under 5 set, or to at least be limited to times when we are in a huge surge like now.

Not bothered.

This generation is going to grow up to be experts at reading facial expressions based on eyes alone. (But also - likely to not be as skilled at managing their own lower face expressions.)

I'm hoping they're gone by the time my 1 year old starts school but we'll do what we have to.

I will say that right now at 15 months there's no way I could get her to wear a mask so starting at 2 seems like asking a lot but I know it is done so it must be possible.

Anonymous wrote:I was fine with it until recently when I saw that the WHO recommends that children under 6 shouldn’t mask.

+1

Not bothered at all. Kids follow what their parents and others do. It helps keep them healthy. Why are you so bothered by it?

I was fine with it until recently when I saw that the WHO recommends that children under 6 shouldn’t mask.

I love my preschoolers wearing masks. It teaches civic responsibility and to follow the direction of authorities. My 18 month old is wearing a training mask right now so she too can take part. I view it as our own personal “victory garden.” Not masking is never an option. They wear them everywhere!

Kids are 18 months, 3 and 5.

Same. DD is almost 3 and has been wearing it since 2. She really does not seem to care at all and she’s consistently been ahead on speech milestones. Sometimes I’ll pick her up from daycare and tell her she can take it off now and she says no and wants to keep it on. Really doesn’t care.

But I feel for the parents of kids this age who are not so tolerant of it. I think in some ways we just got lucky with DD being okay with it. E.g. she doesn’t have any sensory issues. It’s probably harder for kids who do. I have no sympathy for crazy gun lady, but I can understand parents who have concerns with masking, especially for toddlers and preschoolers.

Me. My kids are 3 and 5 and have been wearing masks since last year (KN95s this year). They're not bothered at all and sometimes forget to take them off when they get home. Their language skills are advanced for their age.

Yep, I don't care what other people do.

Not bothered at all. My kid thrives at preschool and has no trouble with masks. He does much better when he's at preschool masked than when he has to be home due to covid closures.

I do know some people who claim that masks have lead to delays for their children. In every case of which I am personally close enough to the person to know the full story, the delays are due to factors other than masking. In every such case of which I am personally aware, there were signs of delays present (and ignored) long before covid was even a thing. So, I think at least some of these situations involve parents blaming masks for delays that would have happened anyway. It's much easier to point at masks than to truly interrogate the complex variables that lead to delays.

For some other parents, the anti-masking thing appears performative. It's about showing allegiance to their in-group and identity affiliations. This is the Fox News crowd. Other parents seem to be so stressed out that they just need something to scream about and masks are a conveniently distant target. These are the people who show up at school meetings and threaten to shoot people, imho.

Others are misinformed. You can't tell them that though, because they think having the ability to read the summaries of a few papers in PubMed makes them qualified to challenge anyone who disagrees with them, including public health officials, pediatricians, epidemiologists, and others with decades of familiarity with the issues. This intellectualization of the problem is a way to protect themselves from scary feelings. It gives them a sense of control over an inherently uncontrollable and frightening situation.

Now that I've said all this, I would also say that we simply cannot now know the full range of consequences of the pandemic. I would be shocked if there weren't lasting effects of some kind on our children. Some of those effects make be from "the disease" and some may be from "the cure." We all have to balance the trade-offs as we try to minimize the effects.

In my estimation, the public health authorities have largely gotten it right - or at least, they have been more right than wrong. I would much rather have my kid masked at school - and deal with whatever consequences there are to this - than have my kid not at school at all or suffering the consequences of acute or chronic covid.

And que all the anti-maskers who need to defend their positions.....

We aren’t bothered in the least. DD, 3, wears her mask like a champ and has zero issues with it. Same with 8 yr old in 2nd grade.

Much ado about nothing from the melodramatic.

DS is three and started a five hour a day preschool wearing his mask. He’s advanced verbally, has zero problem wearing his mask, speaks up clearly, and loves his masked teachers.

I have no clue if the mask offers protection or not but it’s simply not a big deal.

I don’t get parents threatening to bring guns to school if their kid is masked!