A feeling of great vagueness for all, anxiety for some. The day after Emmanuel Macron announced the closure of all schools on Monday until further notice, thousands of parents are trying to organize themselves in fourth gear.
With a crucial question: who to stay at home? A part-time or inactive partner, a job conducive to teleworking, or simply a “nanny”… Among all the people interviewed this Friday morning in the 15th arrondissement, solutions exist. But they recognize it: they are among the "lucky". “It's been a while since parents have been preparing for this eventuality. They don't seem too distraught. We will say that we control the panic well ”, assures a principal of primary school of this residential district.
"Until the Easter holidays, it will be difficult"
But therefore remains all those distraught by these drastic measures. For Marie, the puzzle is still not resolved the day after Emmanuel Macron's speech. From Monday, this history teacher will have to make an "act of presence" from 9 am to 1 pm in his college in Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis). Only, while she is preparing "the distance courses" and answering "the parents' questions by phone or email", who will take care of her children of two and six years of age? She still doesn't have the answer this Friday afternoon.
“My mother already takes care of my 92-year-old grandparents. I don't know if it's a good idea for her to keep my children even if she has volunteered, ”she wonders. The father lives in Var, and his parents in Greece.
Sandrine, stewardess and "solo mom during the week" with a child in CM1 schooling near Bordeaux, plague this closure: "I find it serious, there are plenty of schools where the children are not sick. I don't know how to take care of my daughter ”. His mother will be able to help him the first few days "but if it is until the Easter holidays, it will be difficult".
Fatoumata, a cleaning woman met in front of a nursery school in the north of Paris, wonders how she will pay her "bills": "When I say that I stay at home to babysit, they won't pay me!" "
Alexandre, alone with four children and telecommuting
Beyond this type of uncertainty, a certain number of parents are wondering how to reconcile professional life and childcare. Especially those in infancy. "Already in normal times, it's hot because my daughter is ten months old and is at daycare only in the afternoon," laments Marie, part-time due to "chronic depression". But there, she will also have to look after the six-year-old. "Everything will now depend" on her husband, who still does not know if he will be granted a "half-time" by his company.
Alexandre, 45, already knows this: he will watch alone over his four offspring between two mails. "My wife is a nurse, and according to the instructions she has received, she risks being mobilized." Not "panicked", this Parisian still apprehends the fact of combining his work in the French administration, with the educational monitoring of three children…. And especially the surveillance of the youngest, a two year old toddler.
"He is not going to have to think that it is the holidays"
French parents are now impatiently awaiting instructions from teachers and the education authorities for the follow-up of lessons. By then, some are already planning the pace they plan to start on Monday at home.
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“With us, it will be class and reading in the morning. A film at the start of the afternoon and a bit of sport or board games at the end of the day, ”list Sébastien. He runs a business but is now forced to work from home. "I am a diabetic of type and therefore considered to be a person at risk", indicates by telephone this inhabitant of the 12th arrondissement.
VIDEO. Closure of schools: "It's going to be a hassle, but it's necessary"
For Dorothée, mother of a 6-year-old boy in Angers (Maine-et-Loire), this is also where the priority lies. "Maxence is not going to have to think that it is the holidays," recalls this saleswoman in a sign from the Postal Bank. With their spouse, letter carrier, they intend to take a sick leave of 14 calendar days each in turn. What the law automatically allows in the case of children under the age of 16 and when teleworking is impossible. "Now let's hope it only lasts 28 days," she sighs.