Ariane Calvo is a psychologist in Paris, co-author of the “Small guide to psychological survival in times of health crisis” (First Editions) to be published on January 21.
For her, despite the weight of the Covid-19 epidemic, this Christmas 2020 celebrated in such special conditions can also be a "chance" by allowing parents and children to find each other.
How is this Christmas unique for children?
ARIANE CALVO.
Christmas is usually the feast of carelessness, of being together, of generosity.
But this year, an unconscious evil that is danger, and that no one can control, hovers, with this fear of infecting others, in particular grandparents.
However, children, often asymptomatic, are always suspect.
There is therefore this risk that the spread of the virus will be stuck on their backs.
The child is likely to feel a form of guilt that can ruin their party.
What then should be done?
Limit, as much as possible, the possibilities of contagion, by restricting the festival to regular family nuclei.
For adults, it is also important to remove as much as possible the parameters that introduce worry and concern, by opting for the antigen test.
It seems prudent and responsible to me.
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What are the virtues of a Christmas limited to parents and their offspring?
It may be luck.
It's reassuring, peaceful for the little ones.
This allows parents to refocus, to focus on their children, which is most dear to them, whereas, usually, at Christmas, we are more in the reunion between adults.
You can party even at four, being, in particular, creative on the decoration.
During the first confinement, many parents saw it as a chance to rediscover their children, to spend more time with them.
And in the presence of mom and dad, their rewarding looks, the children grow faster, their skills develop further.
In a few months, we have the impression that they have grown twenty centimeters!
A Christmas with fewer guests means fewer presents for the children, right?
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I don't think they will lose, on the contrary.
Relatives absent during these holidays will want to please them by sending a package.
There will undoubtedly be a kind of catching-up.
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Children's words in the time of the Covid
What to say to his little one who wonders if Santa Claus will be able to ensure his tour because of the pandemic?
The question is returned to him: "And you, what do you imagine, what do you think?"
»Children always have lots of ideas, so we let them dream.
