[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...I’ve never known mental health in children to be so poor as I’ve experienced in the last few months, it’s heartbreaking and difficult to know if any far reaching impacts ...and obviously it’s largely caused by parents struggling as well...

I don't even think it always is that Ammi, I think we've maybe underestimated the importance of kids having face to face interaction with each other / physical play for their mental health. My and my wife are both doing great in lockdown... my mental health is better than it's been in years . But my eldest, even just in the last month or so, has really started to struggle with being isolated from her friends and general lack of social contact. They have phones etc. obviously but we've actually had to impose a "tech detox" this week as it seemed to actually be making things worse - a lot of the kids getting easily frustrated / nasty in their chat groups. The lack of REAL social contact with peers is causing signs of anxiety and depression in the kids of pretty much every parent I've spoken to. The latest news here is that they're all going back full time in August... it's my eldest's final year at primary school. She'll be absolutely devastated if something changes.