Tuesday, after 55 days of confinement, the time had come for a number of schoolchildren to return to elementary school. In view of the health situation which continues to paralyze France, certain rules had to be imposed in schools to respond to hygiene measures and physical distance.
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While several of these measures were relatively well received (wearing a mask for teachers, regular handwashing or even reminders of barrier gestures), others caused waves of indignation. One in particular did not fail to agitate the social networks. That of confining kindergarten children in squares drawn in chalk on the floor of the playground in a school in Tourcoing.
"We would like to traumatize them that we would not do otherwise ... What is going on behind all this, what issues?" protested a surfer on Twitter. "You have to be completely crazy to impose this on children and believe that it will have no repercussions on their conception of school, not to mention the school phobias that are looming ...." was sorry another twittos.
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For other Internet users it is important to put things into perspective. "Must stop lamenting constantly, right?" There is an exceptional situation that must be managed, it is not great but at least the children are not confined to their homes, ” says one of them.
Teaching the child that their little friend is a threat can be anxiety-provoking, very misunderstood and can sometimes lead to a loss of confidence
César Pierre Castagné, child psychiatrist in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.César Pierre Castagné, child psychiatrist in Paris, considers it essential to let children play and have fun together. “Before becoming individual, the child exists and finds himself in the group. It is through his interactions with others that he will find himself ”. And the latter to resume: "Teaching the child that his little friend is a threat can be anxiety-provoking, very poorly understood and sometimes lead to a loss of confidence".
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In addition, Doctor Castagné believes that it was time for the children to be deconfigured, recalling that in the latter "a month counts double" and that therefore "they have suffered enough". According to the child psychiatrist, teachers have a "duty to raise awareness" of their pupils but must in no case isolate them. "We must regulate speech around the Covid, talk about barrier gestures, hygiene measures" he explains.
Measures "contrary to the needs of children"
Already on Monday, the French Federation of Psychiatry (FFP) was indignant against various measures relating to deconfinement that it had deemed "contrary to the needs of children". In a press release, the FFP denounced, among other things, the use of hoops in a nursery school "to avoid touching and inside which it is forbidden to go out" or the fact that young children must "manage" totally alone to get into class, get dressed and undressed, go to the bathroom ”.
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Finally, the FFP also did not fail to note the measures of "ostracizing the children of caregivers who could not join their classes and their comrades because of the caring professions of their parents ". These provisions have been adopted by many Toulouse schools which organize a specific return to school for the children of nursing staff.
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