For children and parents in 2020, it’s feeling an awful lot like 1820. Children in 2020 are expected to be seen and not heard. But unlike 1820, they can’t just go outside and play for hours unsupervised in order to burn off steam. The children of 2020 are meant to be out of school for months at a time, with playgrounds, parks, and stores closed to them. They, and their parents, are supposed to just quietly accept it. Children in cities can’t make too much noise inside their apartments. And good news for children in the suburbs, you can go to your backyard, but that’s about it.
They are instructed to do this for their own good, but it’s not parents or experts in child development making that determination, but instead, politicians.
Hamodia reporter’s back w/ a question for @NYCMayor @BilldeBlasio re pandemic:
Q. Why are big protests allowed but families can’t be on playgrounds?
A. “Out of an abundance of caution, the playgrounds just created too much of a risk to families of the spread of the disease.”
— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) June 11, 2020
This paternalistic view of the role of government and politicians has been rampant over the last several months of the coronavirus outbreak. The government thinks it has been granted the role of protector over its constituents, completely warping what it means to work for and live in a representative democracy.
It’s funny, though, watching politicians talk about what’s best for children amid this crisis because it’s so clear that they have never actually met a child, let alone spent any length of time considering what is best for them.
The importance of play is a topic that child development experts discuss regularly; play isn’t just about fun. The American Academy of Pediatrics explains, “Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them.”
Children shouldn’t be reduced to begging to get outside in the fresh air, but unfortunately, they are. Keeping them cooped up indoors isn’t just unjust, but also bad for the health that these same politicians are claiming to be guarding.
Mr. @NYCMayor how can you refuse the request of these cute kids ?
They’ve been cramped inside their apartments for THREE months!
“Let my children go…. to the park!”#OpenNYCparks pic.twitter.com/cbLKNQYR7u
— Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, Wear a MASK ? (@ykahan) June 12, 2020
Getting outside isn’t just good for a child’s development and mental health, both of which have been suffering thanks to the lockdowns but allows them important access to sunlight and vitamin D, which has proven to be a mitigating effect on coronavirus-related mortality and severity.
Most infuriating, the science on outdoor transmission and the contagion of surfaces is increasingly clear, but that hasn’t changed the course for politicians. In the beginning days of the pandemic it was unclear just how contagious playgrounds might be, and so, out of an abundance of caution, they were closed. But as with other closures, the science has not caught up with public policy, and despite the negligible risk to children and their families, playgrounds have remained closed.
So, what should parents do about it? We are, ultimately, the ones responsible for our children’s health and development. It is time to take away from politicians the assumption that it is theirs.
I was halfway finished with this piece when my children asked to go for a walk outside. I acquiesced and discovered that the fencing that had surrounded our local playground had been torn down. As such, I am writing this on my cell phone, sitting on a park bench while my children play on the playground.
I am done playing along with anti-child and anti-science rules and regulations, and other parents should be as well. Politicians should be challenged, and we should make clear our role as the primary guardians of our children’s health, safety, and well-being. If law enforcement and politicians do not see it as their responsibility to break up outdoor protests with thousands of residents bunched closely together, my little family playing on the playground should not be the target of their ire. Law enforcement can make a choice: They can continue enforcing these ridiculous regulations, or spend their time in more productive manners. How sad it is that in 2020 it is civil disobedience to allow our children to play on a playground? When politicians have taken so many of our rights away from families, it is one of the only tools in our arsenal as citizens.
Bethany Mandel (@bethanyshondark) is a stay-at-home and homeschooling mother of four and a freelance writer. She is an editor at Ricochet.com, a columnist at the Forward, and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.
