No excuses for neglect by parents

OFSTED has exposed a shameful collapse in parenting during the first lockdown that led to children going backwards in basic learning and social skills.

More than half of schools and nurseries contacted said pupils had “fallen behind” and suffered stunted emotional development.

Children who were toilet-trained have gone back to wearing nappies, while others who had mastered using a knife, fork or spoon had reverted to eating with just their hands.

Many could no longer hold a pencil correctly. Basic maths skills were forgotten, some children went back to sucking dummies and one provider reported how some had “forgotten how to play”.

How criminally disengaged are parents that they allow their children to forget how to play?

It just shows too many parents plonked their children in front of the TV during lockdown while wilfully ignoring their needs.

This is made even more unforgivable by the fact many of them will, most likely, have been furloughed and off work and so have little, if any, excuse for not engaging with them.

And before any of you start trying to make excuses about living in high-rise flats with no gardens or the swings at the parks being shut, “play” can be done anywhere with anything at any time. Even doing the washing up or putting away the shopping can be turned into a game.

Unbelievably, some educationalists and “parenting experts” greeted the news with demands for extra help for parents. Help? They need hauling before the courts. The sad fact is that we have done away with any sense of shame. These disconnected dolts believe they can send their previously toilet-trained tots back to a school in a nappy and the poor teacher or their assistants can clear up their mess. But why the hell should they?

I would be ashamed to send one of my children back to school like this.

Before you start bleating about the tough times of 2020, think of the generation of parents who raised their children during the war, racing to bomb shelters not knowing if their homes would even still be standing when they returned.

Or those who coped in the times before the National Health Service was created.

But surely the most distressing part of this is that it’s the children who are the ones who will suffer most from one of the most damaging side-effects of Covid – neglect.