Hands up if you have trust in our politicians
SEPTEMBER has always been a month ripe with possibilities. The long lazy days of summer are on the wane and autumn fruits hang heavy, ready to be picked.
There are conkers on the trees and the faint whiff of good times like Halloween and Bonfire Night (yes, and Christmas) in the air.
And it’s a new academic year. New schools for some, new teachers for most, new pencil cases for all.
This year is different. That low-level mixture of pride and anxiety felt by mums and dads as they buy school shoes and satchels is, for many this term, full on weapons-grade fear. And who can blame them? My kids are older now but if it were my little one toddling off to primary or teenager hopping on the bus to high school, I too would be nervous, haunted by the fear that Covid-19 stalks the corridors and classrooms waiting to pounce.
Now glib commentators and know-all politicians roll their eyes at this terror, as if parents are stupid and don’t understand the risk or are simply overreacting.
And all the science says our kids WILL be safe in school. Young people are the least likely to be made ill by Covid. The probability of them infecting others is low.
Both from an educational and mental well-being point of view, it is riskier to keep them at home and, as hard as it is, we all have to start to return to some kind of normality.
All this is true. So what’s the problem? Well, could it be a matter of trust?
This country has been through one of the most bruising periods of its history yet the handling of it by our government has been dire.
Action has been slow, messages have been mixed. We have been ordered to do things – stay home, don’t travel – and have mainly complied only to see some of those in power do as they damn well please.
Instead of looking at our leaders to lead, many of us now peer at them with a jaundiced eye. Do they really know what they’re doing?
Is it any wonder, then, that when it comes to the most precious thing in their lives parents are both hesitant and fearful?
Our kids must return to lessons, of course they must. And we must send them off with a cheery, confident wave however nervous we feel.
But politicians must recognise parents’ concerns – not simply dismiss them – and work harder to allay them.
They must recognise too the reasons why mums and dads have these fears in the first place; that confidence in the people in charge has been eroded.
Trust is a difficult thing to win and an easy thing to lose.
Especially in a pandemic.