Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not bothered at all. DD is in preschool from 8am-2pm everday. There have been 2 covid cases in her class throught the entire pandemic and neither spread to any other student.

Mine is at a home day care with a range of ages (1-4). The kids are not required to mask. We have had 2 cases throughout the pandemic and no spread in day care because people are responsible and keep their sick kids home. I am so glad our day care follows the WHO recommendations. As a teacher of young elementary kids, I can tell you that more than half of my class doesn't mask properly or wears a worthless cloth mask. I am not against masks. I wear one all day. I am for common sense, scientifically backed decisions for kids.

+1 Thank you for being rational.

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe so few people are bothered by this. I am definitely bothered by preschoolers having to wear masks. The question of whether it helps stop covid or not aside, I want my kids out of masks and back to normal. Masking shouldn’t be the default position. Agree that the middle of the omicron surge isn’t the best time to change this policy but once this wave ends we need to start talking about getting rid of masks.

It's a relief to read comments like this if only to make me feel less alone. It's not all or nothing, folks! You can be pro mask in general and STILL think we should let very young kids go without masks under certain circumstances (such as when cases are low and a school has several other layers of precautions in place to prevent spread).

I actually do think the question of whether it stops Covid is relevant, in the case of preschools. Because I don't see how it could possibly stop Covid in my kid's preschool. They take masks off for snack, lunch, naps -- they are in a room together without masks for about 2 hours every day. If there is Covid in that classroom, wearing masks during story time is not going to prevent it from spreading, sorry. But it might prevent some kids from developing facial reading skills, or learning to communicate clearly.

I love that people are willing to mask 2 year olds indefinitely without any scientific proof that doing so prevents spread of Covid in daycares and preschools, but if you suggest that there might be negative developmental or social impacts of masking children this age, you are screamed at to produce a peer-reviewed study before saying another word. So exhausting. What if we used common sense?

Anonymous wrote:Not bothered at all. DD is in preschool from 8am-2pm everday. There have been 2 covid cases in her class throught the entire pandemic and neither spread to any other student.

Mine is at a home day care with a range of ages (1-4). The kids are not required to mask. We have had 2 cases throughout the pandemic and no spread in day care because people are responsible and keep their sick kids home. I am so glad our day care follows the WHO recommendations. As a teacher of young elementary kids, I can tell you that more than half of my class doesn't mask properly or wears a worthless cloth mask. I am not against masks. I wear one all day. I am for common sense, scientifically backed decisions for kids.

Anonymous wrote:Asian children under 5 do not wear masks every day for 2 years in daycare.

This. I don't know where people get this idea that Asian countries are masking kids this young every day for years. Yes, mask wearing is much more normalized there and plenty of people will mask even young kids on public transportation or in crowded areas. But daycares and preschools there generally don't mask unless there is a specific reason to do so. So they might be masking now because of Omicron, but that's not a big deal because they weren't masking back when cases were very low.

It's only in the US that we started masking 2 year olds in spring/summer 2020 and just never stopped. So we have kids here who have been wearing masks basically for as long as they can remember. It's actually really weird!

I don't get all the people bragging about how "oh my kid forgets he's wearing a mask, oh he doesn't want to take it off." I'm sure that's reassuring for you because you don't have to fight with him to wear a mask as required. But it's actually kind of strange behavior for a very small child. It's actually weird for them to want to wear masks all the time, even at home. I cannot believe people don't see that this could have longterm psychological consequences. I mean, it's right there.

But go ahead, call me an anti-masker. I've been wearing a medical-grade mask daily for almost 2 years, my 4 yr old wears a mask no problem and I trained her to wear it when she was just 2 because I knew it was necessary. I still worry about the amount of time she spends in a mask. This is normal. Face to face interaction is actually important for development and socialization.

Anonymous wrote:Asian children under 5 do not wear masks every day for 2 years in daycare.

Yes they do. Google it.

Anonymous wrote:

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…

+1 to all this.

But in our area it seems most parents are not bothered because we are the oddballs who don’t make our kids wear masks on the playground or bike rides.

Anonymous wrote:I worked in daycare many years ago ...
Just curious if parents have found that with preschoolers wearing masks, illnesses over all in the classrooms have been reduced? Like runny noses, and general colds?

Nope still get those, now with the bonus of having to keep your kid home and get a covid test to prove it’s just a runny nose

I worked in daycare many years ago ...
Just curious if parents have found that with preschoolers wearing masks, illnesses over all in the classrooms have been reduced? Like runny noses, and general colds?

Asian children under 5 do not wear masks every day for 2 years in daycare.

Do Americans think Asian students are behind in their countries? They wear masks.

For those who are bothered -- or who want to advocate on behalf of the children who are struggling because of developmental delays, spectrum disorders, sensory processing disorders, speech delays, learning disabilities, or they are deaf/hard of hearing -- a group of parents is working to advocate for updating COVID-19 daycare policies to enable optional masking for children. We are also fighting to decrease the crushing quarantine burden on daycare families. Please see below for our advocacy guides and petition.

Montgomery County daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/yd2jr5pu

DC daycare advocacy guide: https://tinyurl.com/57sapzjy

Petition: https://chng.it/vTzRTQKGHf

Same. NBD for any of us.

My kid is not bothered so I am not bothered. Anything that helps.

Not bothered at all. DD is in preschool from 8am-2pm everday. There have been 2 covid cases in her class throught the entire pandemic and neither spread to any other student.

Anonymous wrote:I wasn’t bothered when this all started. But now we’re vaccinated and boosted, our 4 year olds will be vaccinated soon. One of our sons needs glasses for reading and screens, but it’s real hard with the mask. His glasses fog up and then he stops wearing them. I’m ready for mask optional.

Issue for my kid also. It is terrible