Kids kind of makes it all pointless. They catch everything and bring it home.

It was nice not being sick for so many months.

2 weeks after they went back. Bam, everyone sick.

And that’s with intense mask rules and distancing

You're not wrong, but that doesn't mean that we can't take other measures to get back below R=1. The primary one I can think of is for governments of the world to give long term contracts to N95 mask makers so they can fully spin up their factories. It's been 9 months for $diety's sake.

Non-fit homemade and non-rated masks help prevent others from getting sick. But if everyone had access to cheap N95 that actually prevented them from getting sick we'd be a lot better off. The kids would still be getting it and getting everyone sick at home/school because they wouldn't wear them consistently right, but people without kids at home wouldn't be getting sick at nearly the rate. Every bit counts.

Maybe the masks and distancing don't actually work?