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fromFabian Scheuermann
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shut down
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The Offenbach psychologist Vera Heselhaus has started a petition with other affected mothers to open daycare centers and primary schools.
As in Denmark, says Vera Heselhaus, it could perhaps also be done in Germany: Kindergartens and crèches as well as schools up to 5th grade have been open to everyone again since mid-April despite Corona – with hygienic requirements and rules of conduct. To make her concern about the early opening of daycare centers and elementary schools heard, the Offenbach psychologist Heselhaus launched an online petition with 16 other mothers from the federal territory under the title “Children need children” about a week ago – until yesterday evening already signed over 53,000 people.
Specifically, Heselhaus and her fellow campaigners are demanding a concept from the federal government to gradually open up the childcare and education offer for all children under ten. Because: Since small children could not meet alone, many of them currently have no external contacts. “If you fully adhere to the corona restrictions, the children outside the family are socially isolated,” says Heselhaus. This was bearable for a few weeks. But it couldn’t stay that way any longer, otherwise the situation would be too damaging to the mental health of many children. It needed a concrete road map that shows when young children can see their peers and under what conditions.
The 34-year-old Offenbacher knows what she is talking about – she works in the outpatient clinic of a child and adolescent psychiatry in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district. And what she saw there alarmed her after only a few weeks of the corona restrictions, she says. For example, regressions – that is, relapses in early childhood behavior – can be observed in some children as a result of the massively changed everyday life. “Many families tell that their children have become more affectionate and tearful, that they want to be fed again or that they get wet again,” reports Heselhaus. The fact that other children seem to get along quite well with the situation does not lessen this problem. Especially since children from difficult or precarious family backgrounds, who are now likely to be particularly affected, are particularly dependent on good childcare, education and exercise options.
Heselhaus knows from her own experience that a few weeks can be “very, very long” in the perception of a child – after all, she has two daycare children at the age of three and five at home in Offenbach. However, the two have recently returned to emergency care. Heselhaus sees no particular danger in this – after all, in daycare centers with small groups, it is relatively easy to understand who was in contact with whom. It is clear to the psychologist that the protection against infection must be given the best possible attention.
However, it also points out that it is still not sufficiently clear what role children play in the spread of the novel coronavirus at all. She very much welcomes the fact that several university clinics in Baden-Württemberg are now taking on this very topic.
And there is another reason why she calls for the facilities to be opened soon: She is certain that the willingness of many parents to comply with the corona regulations will decrease if people feel “not seen” by politics. That is one of the reasons why a timetable is needed. On Tuesday afternoon, the petitioners handed over around 53,000 digitally collected votes to the group leader of the Greens in the Bavarian state parliament in a symbolic online campaign. According to Heselhaus, other federal states should follow: “In this way we want to get as much attention as possible for our concerns.”
The project of the 17 mothers, including a doctor, a microbiologist and social worker, comes at the right time: This week, political discussions are ongoing on how to proceed with the topic. Federal Minister of Family Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD) had rushed ahead once before and had praised the Danish approach.
kinderrauchenkinder-petition.de
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