But let's be clear....by asking them to sacrifice soccer, school and socialization, we are actively hurting the younger generation for the sake of the old.
I don't think it's as black and white as that. If I get extremely sick, that's going to affect my ability to provide for my family and my daughter. And if I die from COVID, well that would definitely negatively impact my daughter in a very long lasting way. So I can't just willy nilly sacrifice my health because I'm old and my daughter is young. From a functional standpoint, my daughter relies on me maintaining my health until she's self sufficient, never mind the emotional implications.
That said, I totally feel where you're coming from and every child and family dynamic is different. It's obviously difficult for everyone but how a child copes with the lack of school, soccer, and socialization will vary from one child to the next. Which means parents will make personal choices to handle their own unique challenges.
But when it comes to team sports, group events, and etc, guidelines have to be created with the lowest common denominator in mind. For example any given soccer team may have parents with ages anywhere from 30 - 55. Some also have grandparents who are heavily involved in either pickup/dropff or child care. These people are critical in the child's life and they can't just be "sacrificed". So when constructing guidelines and policy, it has to have both the child's safety in mind and their support system. It's not about some distant nursing home. If we're putting the child's support system at moderate or high risk, then the child is at risk as well. It's that aspect that gets overlooked when people debate the restrictions.
Some things like this can't be dictated purely by parental choice. Because of the Rat Race of competitive youth sports, too many parents will sign a waiver and unknowingly put their kid's (or teammate's) support system at risk, so they don't fall behind and the clubs who need to make money will also encourage this. Grace, it sounds like you properly assessed the situation for your son and your family. But there may be those who take unnecessary risks to avoid falling behind even though their kid's support system might be fragile. There's also the issue of kids still showing up to training/games even though they or someone in their family is sick. The youth guidelines have to account for this with team sports, knowing there will never be 100% compliance and yet they have to protect the child's safety and their support system.