Government comms need more common sense on the common cold
Gemma Moroney, co-founder of Shook, is incensed by a UK government campaign urging parents to send snotty kids to school. Where did it all go wrong?
C’mon comms, the clue is in the word. You can’t spell communications without a bit of common sense.
The irony of having a minister for common sense is the latest government comms campaign doesn’t seem to have much.
It’s imploring us to send our kids to school even with a sniffle.
As a mum of two school avoiders, it made me mad.
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As a kid with two parents who worked full time, I would have had to be nearing death to miss school. 1987 hurricane, fallen trees blocking exits of our village: I’m pretty sure my mum lifted one of the trees herself to get me in. 1980s blizzard? Well, that’s how a definitely-not-12-year-old me and three other kids with like-minded parents watched Top Gun in the headmaster’s office while eating Neapolitan.
As a working mum, I’ve always had the same approach. You’ve got to have a really, really, REALLY good reason for missing school.
I, and most people I know, have guiltily sent a Calpoled-up kid in with our fingers crossed because we know we’ve got a can’t miss meeting.
In short, most parents don’t want kids to miss out on education, and they don’t need the juggle of childcare and cracking through work.
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A sniffle won’t stop that.
What we didn’t have in the 80s was a mental health crisis in kids, exacerbated by a pandemic and a geopolitical binfire.
And that’s why the new campaign made me mad.
It’s using something I don’t believe is really a thing to avoid the subtext of a much bigger problem.
Post-COVID, despite all the above, I have school avoiders. They’re not not going in because they have a cold.
They’re not going in because they’re wary of crowds after being told getting within two meters of people might kill them because anxiety that started before the pandemic worsened during it because of neurodivergent needs.
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And if you want me to get really mad, all the wonderful people trying to support and solve these things don’t have the pounds or pathways to do it.
I normally hate criticizing someone else’s work, but this campaign should have been less slogan, more subtle, and offer more serious support.
And that’s before you get started on this being a punishment for kids for whom - for many reasons - missing school is unavoidable.
Common sense child’s play tells you there are bigger issues in play.