This week, where we asked a few questions that we’ve asked before… did you spot them? Asking the same questions again means that we can tell you how things have changed on masks, jabs, and holidays. We also have your insights on ‘life admin’
But first…
Do you ever see a Parent Ping question where you’d like to tell us more? Or do you ever have ideas for questions yourself? If so, you’d like our Facebook Group! Join here.
Masks & jabs
As Covid restrictions continue to lift, one of the most direct consequences in schools (particularly secondary schools) will be the removal of masks. On the day that the PM announced that staff and students in secondary schools wouldn’t need masks anymore, we asked what decision you would have made if you were in his shoes.
Emphasising what a tough call this is, there was a pretty even split amongst those thinking we should keep masks and those that think we shouldn’t. Parents of primary-aged children were slightly more in favour of keeping them, but to be fair most primary kids haven’t had to wear them.
Has your attitude to masks changed during this term? Looking only at the parents of secondary school students, there are still plenty of you who see benefits in staff and students wearing masks in school, but the overall proportion agreeing that the benefits outweigh the downside has dropped slightly.
We also wondered if your attitude had changed on vaccinating children and again saw a dip – the proportion of you who would accept the vaccine for your children immediately has fallen since we asked last month. Conversely, there’s a small increase in the (small) proportion of you who won’t want your children to have the vaccine at all.
Summer plans
Whilst it might feel some way off after a rather wet week, summer is nearly here so we asked you about the upcoming hols…
Over half of you have holidays booked now, compared to around a third when we last asked back in February. A lucky 4% of you have even had a holiday already!
What about your kids plans for the summer? Are any planning to go to one of the government’s summer schools? No! Say lots of you, particularly parents of secondary-aged kids which might be troubling for the government as at the moment this is the only type of summer school they’re planning to fund!
Finally, what about a cheeky holiday during term time? A third of parents with kids in secondary school say they have done it… one for us to dig into further in future!
Life admin
‘Life admin’ refers to the day-to-day chores that are of an administrative nature, for example personal banking or making appointments. While some of you got in touch with us to say that you share the ‘life admin’ with a partner, or that you don’t have a partner at all, it turns out that in most households there are often ‘boy jobs’ and ‘girl jobs’
Mums were far more likely than dads to do things related to school permissions, they were also more likely to be the ones making medical appointments and booking holidays. Dads on the other hand were twice as likely to be responsible for the car, and also more likely to arrange the insurance. All in all, the only gender-neutral task was who takes care of the TV licence!
Coming up next week
As lockdown eases next week we’ll be checking out your thoughts on the latest rules. We’re also going to be looking at homework. Don’t miss a question! Download the app and set your notifications to PING every day!