https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 07 May 2026 16:13:09 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927983 Sat, 11 Feb 2023 23:12:43 +0000 MoonMoon 2927983@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kid is in 4th grade and he's one of only a couple kids per class at his school who wears a mask. He's been doing it since going back to in person in third grade last year. I'm very grateful that he doesn't complain, but of course they take their masks off during lunch and are all up in each other's business but I figure masking at much as possible is good mitigation. He's had a couple of colds this school year so I know the masks aren't protecting him 100% but then again he hasn't been continuously sick either, so I'm grateful for that. No flu, RSV, or Covid, knock wood. He has kids sized kn94s and they're comfortable and fit well, which helps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927956 Fri, 10 Feb 2023 07:15:11 +0000 ChitownRo 2927956@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@caitcat: so sorry about LC/ POTS. Hoping your symptoms improve asap. My symptoms weren’t terrible, chronic cough and decreased exercise tolerance, but I just don’t like the concept of long term consequences of a “mild” viral illness. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927936 Sun, 05 Feb 2023 11:57:42 +0000 LemonJack 2927936@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Where we live not many kids mask anymore, and we don’t have ours mask regularly either. We do have them wear them occasionally, like when an illness is going through our house. I also had them mask up for the week before winter break because Influenza A was raging around here. Neither of them is thrilled when they’re asked to mask, but so far they’ve been pretty compliant when I’ve explained the reasoning. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927935 Sun, 05 Feb 2023 10:09:25 +0000 caitcat 2927935@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ChitownRo: What you mentioned about feeling out of step with the community resonates with me so much. I hope your LC symptoms continue to improve. I developed POTS after having covid in August (kids caught it the first week of school...they were wearing masks, but that only does so much when they're the only ones). I'm starting to get my POTS and other LC symptoms under better control, but it's definitely part of why I'm continuing to be extra cautious. We've been so sick this winter too in spite of everything, and it feels a little hopeless sometimes. It's been a rough season! I'm counting my blessings right now that we've had a couple good weeks of everyone "healthy" in the last month. It's been so refreshing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927934 Sat, 04 Feb 2023 23:46:22 +0000 Alexandra603 2927934@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it depends on the child. We don't mask our kids anymore but did for a few days when they returned to school after having covid. My 3rd grade daughter wore it faithfully and my kindergarten son did NOT wear his consistently. No one is enforcing the mask wearing at school so it's really up to the kid. We are in a liberal area and I work in an elementary school and I would say maybe 15 percent of kids still mask. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927933 Sat, 04 Feb 2023 13:39:54 +0000 ChitownRo 2927933@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This has been such a tough conflict in our house. Our kids never minded masking until *everyone else* stopped (liberal Chicago suburb). Then they felt awkward w the peer pressure. They know I want them to mask, but just don’t. I really can’t force them (3rd, 1st, preK) and the teachers def don’t model masking or enforce parents wishes.<br /> So we’ve been so so sick this year. Covid, flu a, covid again, long covid fevers and then a post viral pneumonia. It’s terrible to feel out of step with the entire community. It makes me feel crazy. But my long covid (from when I got it in the summer from a patient) is finally better (after being exposed to the kids covid, somehow kicked my LC). And my mom died from a rare post viral autoimmune illness so I think I’m just always going to be more cautious than 99% of people.<br /> Really hoping for an intranasal vaccine that actually stops transmission</p> <p>But I don’t have anything encouraging to say about masking in public school, so sorry. I’d make sure the grandparents are up to date on their boosters. And stock up on the rapid tests before the “pandemic emergency” funding ends in May </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927913 Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:31:57 +0000 lady baltimore 2927913@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catgirl: This was our experience as well. LO never complained about wearing a mask to preschool or kindergarten until they became optional at her school around spring break time last year and most of her peers and teachers stopped wearing them. We pushed through with her until the end of the school year as she had an infant sister at home, but it quickly became apparent that we were setting up a real conflict point. She often came off the bus in the afternoon not wearing her mask, and when questioned she would insist she had had it on until moments before she came into our sight. (I suspect she wore it until lunch or a water break or something each day, and then never put it back on without an adult enforcing that expectation.) I wasn't interested in carrying that dynamic into first grade. We do continue to mask in other public settings, avoid indoor dining, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927908 Mon, 23 Jan 2023 09:50:29 +0000 catgirl 2927908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lahela017: this. When our district when mask optional we tried to get DD (then 7) to keep wearing her mask. The first few days she did but then she was coming home miserable every day because she was the only kid in her class wearing one. We kept pushing but quickly realized we were just setting up a situation for her to lie to us - she would put it on in the morning to get on the bus but would be taking it off at school. Staff were no longer allowed to enforce mask wearing for anyone, so no one was stopping her from removing it. So we stopped trying because it was making every school day miserable for all of us to fight about it. We didn’t even try when she started second grade this year. She wears it at other locations with us without any issue - she just did not handle being the only kid in a classroom with it on. </p> <p>Our elementary school is about 850 kids and I would say 5% of kids wear masks on a daily basis. That number seems to go up a bit the week before and the week after a vacation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927907 Mon, 23 Jan 2023 09:38:33 +0000 Lahela017 2927907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it depends on the child. I wanted my 3 year old to mask at preschool this year, but it just didn't work with her being the only one. Some of that might be age related, but she just didn't understand why she was the only one masked and wouldn't keep it on. Obviously I wasn't there to tell her to put it back on. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927904 Sun, 22 Jan 2023 20:57:49 +0000 Mrs. Carrot 2927904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bakingdoodle: ditto here, my 9 year old is one of 2 kids in her class who wears a mask. My daughter is very comfortable with it and feels better in big groups with it. Obviously that changes during lunch and such, but it's better than nothing at all I think. As far as I know no one has given her a hard time about it. That said we're in a pretty "liberal" and diverse area so depending on where you are that may not be as much of a case. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927899 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 17:09:13 +0000 greencraftycello 2927899@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bakingdoodle: Thank you, this was helpful! :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927898 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 16:13:27 +0000 Cait1 2927898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>None of the kids at my first graders school wear masks. We’re in upstate NY. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927896 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 13:08:42 +0000 KT326 2927896@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a 5th grader and a Kindergartener. Our school is about 50/50. After major breaks it goes up a bit in favor of masks. But we live in an area where a lot of people are still masking up indoors. </p> <p>My kinder has asthma so the cough always lingers when he gets sick. I send him to school in a mask, sometimes he is wearing it when I pick him up and sometimes he isn't. There are a handful of kids in his class that wear a mask every day, most of them only wear them if they have a cough or runny nose. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927895 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:41:07 +0000 caitcat 2927895@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kids are in 2nd grade and kindergarten. My second grader is the only one in her class who wears a mask, but from what I see walking her to school, I think there are plenty of others in other classes still. I don't think she's gotten too much pushback from kids in her class though. (At least, she still agreeably wears the mask each day - and she usually lets me know right away if she's upset about something, so I'm sure I would have heard if it were a problem!) </p> <p>From what I've seen volunteering in my kindergartener's class, I think about half the kids (and both teachers) wear masks in class. Obviously, lunch in the cafeteria is a different story for both kids - no masks there all around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927894 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:08:11 +0000 bakingdoodle 2927894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My kids (9 and 7) are probably the only ones masked in their school. Maybe they are a handful and haven't seen the other ones. My kids have no problem masking but I am not there to see what happen at lunch. I am on the mindset: they are masked 80% of the time. It's better than nothing. My daughter is the one that shames the other kids by telling them they should mask... so obviously she is not bothered by it. I told my kids we needed to mask so that their grandparents could come visit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/masking-at-school#post-2927893 Fri, 20 Jan 2023 07:05:42 +0000 greencraftycello 2927893@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My eldest is turning five in the fall, and will be entering kindergarten in September. She currently attends an outdoor based preschool, and will be entering public school for K.</p> <p>As a family, we mask in public indoor spaces (grocery store, doctors, Gymboree, etc.), but our daughter does not mask for preschool because she is outside 90 percent of the time. </p> <p>Obviously, this won’t be the case in kindergarten. I would like her to try to wear a mask at school next year. I am concerned she is going to bring back COVID to our elderly parents.</p> <p>Does anyone have children in early elementary this year who sent them to school in a mask? How did they manage it? Was it a problem if they were the only one masked? </p> <p>(Not looking for a debate on masks, or to shame anyone who are making different decisions) </p>