For more than 11 years I got used to enter hand in hand, or beside my children, at the school they attend. This week they return to school, but I am prevented from entering the school.
To enter the building, where my children spend about eight hours a day, just with a scheduled meeting or to go to admin office to deal with bureaucracies.
At this stage it’s easier. My two children are already relatively grown up and enjoy going to school. They no longer need a good lap, or a tight hand that relieves the stress of stepping up the stairs leading to the school’s yard where everyone coexisted.
They coexisted, because now the school principal asks them to arrive just on time for the beginning of the classes and to leave as soon as the last class or activity ends.
we are teaching them that playing and living with people is dangerous, even with those they have known and lived with for several years
In the class room they will be separated from their friends, they will have to disinfect their hands regularly and if they try a smug or accomplice smile to their friends, the effect will be null. The mask will always be present and ready to avoid the bad and good. Despite all that, they will also have to learn, because that is what they are there for.
One consolation remains: they will not stop going to school, which would be worse after all. Even so, the moment they meet their friends again they will greet each other with their elbows and feet.
Out of necessity, I know, we are teaching them that playing and living with people is dangerous, even with those they have known and lived with for several years.
And making new friends is out of question. If you do not know, do not get closed and therefore you will not trust. They will have a much harder time making new friends and I will be virtually unable to meet them.
The numbers restarted to increase in Portugal and Europe. This Sunday in France the confirmed cases reached the barrier of 10 thousand.
In Portugal, it seems inevitable numbers will continue to rise (which has been happening since mid-August) now that holidays for kids and adults are over and schools are opening, increasing the number of contacts.
In addition to all this, today I think how I will explain to my children that it is not good to spend hours on a computer. After all, in 2020, this seems to be the safest. It is not now the right moment to evaluate the social effects of these changes.
