Confinement diary. For pandemic prevention

Status
Not open for further replies.
Monday April 27 (02.am) Following:

1. TV Mass again:
I don’t follow a lot. Not due to the mass itself, but I am a very evaporated person…
My girl asks “how many priests there is”?
And she noticed that the liturgical color is still the white (which surprise myself too… I need to study more!)

I worried again, as my husband was locked in the next room, working again if he will be willing to come back to the routine mass after the deconfinement…

2. Homeschooling:
Ssince the confinement the mothers post online the activities their children do, and link with online resources. I pick a lot of idea. I did a chemical experience…

Before, my school method was to let her choose her activity in all we have, many educative games, slate books, magazines… But I have since printed a lot of already made sheets. I become obsess to make work as if we were at school and let print proofs for the inspectors. The printing machine is sollicitated a lot… Not good for the planet or our money!

The resources are enormous for maternelle children!

I am sure that many more parents would consider homeschooling… If they don’t lost their job because of the economic crisis that would followed…
I am also bless to live in France where the State help to relieve the financial burden off business and individuals when there is a crisis. Yet i am sure that many business would closed, such as independant shops and many people would loose their jobs…
 
3. Rescpect of confinement?
I heard a baby cry this sunday afternoon! What??

I saw that one of our neigboor was receiving many families members, they were sitting on the table in the garden! Breaking the rules of confinement for the second consecutive day! Yesterday I see another neighboor couple who took their car to shop, as usual. But they break the rules too: only one person for shopping.

At the same time, I saw an other neigboor’s son, half-naked, running is our garden! What???

I am used that they consider our propriety as their own exterior corridor and use it too much with a trailer, a moto, some bikes etc. They also installed a door between their garden and us. They had ask before, and I answered that I don’t want it, but… they eventually did it! But since the confinement we have close our fence.
They have no legal right of passage, we never allowing it, we just avoid to say something. We are not in Texas were we can shoot someone just because of that!

I spoke to my husband and said him again that also we want to have good relations with our neigboors, he should said them something to limit the trend. After all he complained for many years because his grandparents said nothing with a more or less same issue…
Of course my husband was not happy, he is as shy as me, but say he will speak them… We will see…

So I feel a feeling of injustice! Their attitudes are not right!

BUT I also think a more on the respect of laws- just or injusts and whistleblowing. I am a person with intense feelings, but not an action person. That would means that if we had a whistleblowing system I would burnt to use it, but I am not sure if I had the strenght to do it.

I have learnt through a documentary a few years ago that during WWII, in the Vichy France, the population were encourage to the whistleblower. And guess what? I worked! Many people didn’t hesited to whistelblower their neighboor if they hide themselves or someone else. They also whistelblower as a revange for neighborhood conflict. Some parents even denounced a Jew because she was the girlfriend of their son and they want to separate them. People couldn’t completely ignored that they would be deported.
Whisteblower was not a few isolated acts. It was so massive that even the Vichy Governement was overwelved and ask the citizen to stop to whistelblower so much, that it created a climate of suspicion.
Without denonciations there would not be so much deportations.

I hope that I don’t made an historical error asI only use my memory.

So what should we do? Just ignore and hope that the majority of people respected better the rules for the sake of everybody’s health? Our neighboors were probably healthy, but on a population scale, it is obvious that some would not be, and i would be the first! And what is the purpose of respecting the rules now when in a few weeks we would have to go outside with the virus still present?

The only thing that seems safe is that whistleblower seems unhealthy for small breaking rules…

What do you think?
 
Last edited:
20 ft is alot. The only thing we do to get out is go to a secluded area, woods, fields, trails. I’m getting used to it. The school situation in France seems unbelievable. I wouldn’t send my children back right now or even may 11th. I think you are right, they will start to see how the children carry the virus. Scientists say that they are excellent carriers! Thanks be to God that you are homeschooling your children.
It’s difficult that your husband may be back at work around many children. I also can’t believe that the government went against the scientists; you would think they would leave it to the pro’s. Our Gov also has provided much relief for the financial situation of many citizens. It is helpful, but I think some fall through the cracks. I’ve noticed alot of good news stories of people or groups taking care of others in neat ways, which is good to see.
 
I wouldn’t hesitate to be a whistle blower if it was a person living beside me having many people over. I agree we should try to have good relationships with neighbors, but the fact that we are facing an invisible, contagious virus, and we have all been told the rules to help the survival rate, it’s fair to report those so blatantly refusing to follow. I wouldn’t call you a tattle tale.
Personally, I wouldn’t call myself. But my husband would be the one.
 
Yes, I think you are right @Swiftdove! I would not call the police because my neighboor had seen 4 family members… But if one made a gathering of 20 people… well, call maybe be the better choice!
 
Swiftdove said:
Scientists say that they are excellent carriers!
Click to expand...
if it can reassure you a little…

This was the hypothesis posed by the scientists thanks to an analogy with the flu. That’s why the schools were closed.
But this hypothesis is now questionned because few children catch the virus. And in a family it seems more the children who are contamined by their parents than the reverse.
In France, professor Robert Cohen is making a study to determine what is the rate of children who carry thje virus. We wait for the conclusion but he claims that the role they have in the spread of the virus had been overestimated.

That’s why when schools will open again, very few will carry and transmit the virus as they were confined. But their parents can contribute to contamine others when they go to schools and to infect the children. And the same may happened again in september after the gap of summer holidays…
What we don’t know is how the opening of schools and deconfinement would affected the pandemic spread.

www.franceculture.fr

Les enfants sont-ils des réservoirs viraux du Covid-19 ?

Les enfants sont-ils un maillon central de l'épidémie ? C'est la question au cœur des Idées Claires, notre programme hebdomadaire produit par France Culture et franceinfo destiné à lutter contre les désordres de l'information, des fake news aux idées reçues.
www.franceculture.fr www.franceculture.fr
Swiftdove said:
It’s difficult that your husband may be back at work around many children.
Click to expand...
I am worry for the children because he works in an hospital…even if he don’t see the most vulnerable children…
He also have others risk factors for himself…

Of course It wa snot my reason for homeschooling, but it present some advantages!
Swiftdove said:
I also can’t believe that the government went against the scientists; you would think they would leave it to the pro’s.
Click to expand...
It does happened everywhere…

I pray that your family stay healthy and that you find an acceptable solution for your children’s custody.
 
i don’t remember where I have written that!
Seriousely, this term “fake news” has recently appeared and even journalists used it. I think that notorious american people have used it so… we do the same!
But i agree, “fausse information” is the adequate french term!

L’Académie française?
We are invaded with anglicisms! When an aglo saxon new technology is created we use it in our language… until a new word is created… But when it is, it is too late.

Le Québec is a Province that protected better french than us. For eg, films and books titles are traduced in French when we tend to let them in English, to seems more trendy…That’s strange when we see the french title of a film we have watched in France under is American title!
 
Anicette said:
even journalists used it.
Click to expand...
LOL–i saw it in the article you posted!
Anicette said:
That’s strange when we see the french title of a film we have watched in France under is American title!
Click to expand...
That is really funny!

I have been watch Canadian tv shows in English and then in French (on a slow speed) in the hope of improving my French. I may soon be able to speak fluently about murders… regards, il était tué; son os hyoid est fracturé!
 
Wonderfull @Annie ! Good job!
Maybe with the subtitles to know how to writ it?

That is funny too, because I had watched Quebecois murder serie tv (Fortier)!..And when we started, french substitles might have been usefull because some words are unknown in France and the accent made it very difficult to understand at first!

It is because their french is… more historical and better french than us.

The written langage is identical in France and Quebec, accept some words. Such as french expressions when we have anglicisms (gardienne vs babysitter). The also sacres (ecclesiatical swear words), that is unknown to us. They also have words that are regionalism (many migrants where from Western regions such as Normandy or Poitou).
I have no difficulties to read novels.

Their accent is closer to the one that was spoken in Parisian area before the French revolution than the one we have currently in France.
It is easy to understand why, as they were isolated from the rest of the francophone words for centuries. Yet, in the last century, the accent has been corrected a little.
 
Tuesday April 28,

New decisions:
  • After the 11 may we can go out where we want BUT stay within 100 km around our home. If we need to go far than that for imperious reasons only, we need to fill a derogation paper as before.
  • We still don,'t know when the high schools (lycées = age 15 to 17/18) would open again.
My husband will start again May 18.

Note: the TV presidential speech of April 13 had battle an historical record. More than 36 millions people watch it*, that’s mean almost all people who are watching the TV (more than 94)

*We are almost 67 million people in France.
 
April 28,

We have concluded a market with our neighboor, she will sew us masks and my husband will help her in her vegetable garden.

Chosen Antology of my three years old daughter:

Regularly play “desinfection” to her toys and the house.

“dont’t touch baby! Coronavirus!”

the dolls are ill, they have the coronavirus, they are in bed.

“There is 10 deaths because of the coronavirus in the Elephant’s country!”

“Come mom, we have to bury the hundreds of deads of the Spanish Flu, the Bird Flu and the coronavirus”

She buries her playmobils under headstone (book). They are priviledge as the dolls and the stuffs animas were burry in a pauper’s grave.

“No, I will not go to school. You NEVER do that dad! In school there is others children. I will catch the coronavirus!”.

“The baby doll die because she shakes the hand of her mother who had the coronavirus. We should not shakes hands and stay confined at home!”

“I am not confined at home, it’s you dad you can’t go to work!”

How your children or grandchildren react with the sanitary crisis?
@Viki63, maybe?
 
Anicette said:
How your children or grandchildren react with the sanitary crisis?
@Viki63, maybe?
Click to expand...
We have only discussed in broad terms the health problems around us. We only say that school and church are closed because a lot of people are sick. I think it’s too heavy to involve children in disinfecting-- I don’t want to make them paranoid. We’re not great at disinfecting anyway, though we use wipes sometimes.
My grandson gets to see his classmates a couple times a week on Google Meet. which he enjoys.
 
You remind me of the trouble I had understanding some British TV shows when Ii first started watching them–i wanted captions just to keep up!

Amazing about your little girl: I can totally picture little girls doing that from your description.

I am glad you and your neighbor were able to exchange gardening for face masks!
 
@Anicette, how old is your daughter? It sounds like she has heard too much of the details about what is going on. I agree with @Viki63 that broad terms, not smaller details would have been best for children.

I think that somehow, you need to “distract” your child from what is going on and not mention anything. Find something else for her to occupy herself with. Teach her the basics of sewing, or how to sew buttons on, embroidery. Write stories, not about the pandemic, lol! Draw or paint pictures. Teach her how to bake something with your supervision. Anything to not have her thinking so much about what is going on that it occupies so much of her thinking, which from what you are saying, it seems to do.
 
Last edited:
Viki63 said:
I think it’s too heavy to involve children in disinfecting-- I don’t want to make them paranoid. We’re not great at disinfecting anyway, though we use wipes sometimes.
Click to expand...
Oh no, I have never involved her in desinfecting! I rarely desinfect something, and the sanitary crisis has not changed anything to my cleaning!

It is just her who plays, it is not real!
Admitingly, one time only she asks for real desinfectant…
 
I write only things related to the virus. Of course our life is much more rich than that!

It is perfectly normal for a child 3 or 4 years old to play what she is seeing and living. So when she goes to a weeding, she plays it again. When she goes to a burial, the same. Same for the supermarket, mass etc.

She didn’t go outside since the beginning. We watch regularly (not all days) the news on TV, and it is obvious she is in the room. We buy the newspaper when we go outside. She looked at it today and comented the pictures. Of course that is virus, virus and that’s all there is now in the news. So she can only said “oh, a girl with a cloth mask” " an ill person in the hospital"…

But she still plays mass, watches cartoons, play with her toys inside or outside the house, makes games with me and “school” activities etc. It is not a sad girl!

the last morning, we cooked together.

For the others activities such as sewing, she is too little.
She don’t seem to do nightmare nor to be very afraid of the situation. I ask her regularly. She is little.
 
I don’t think that it is right for you to question what is the normal behavior of a child or the parenting of Anicette. I used to play hospital with my dolls, who had all sorts of dire conditions and I was the doctor, and I wasn’t exposed to much of anything except maybe Marcus Welby, MD.
 
Saturday April 2,
My baby broke my glasses. He usually give them to me each morning to encourage me to raise up. Not a good idea.
I try to find an optician, call to several shops until someone answer me. He said he will try to help me if I go this morning. He has not opened his shop completely because he don’t have received masks and sanitary protections, so he don’t want to take the risk.
He has nothing compatible with my glasses. So he directs me to the only shop of the town that is opened.
I go to it. The optician is not restocked, so he relies on the stock he had before the confinement.
I see two others families that comes when i am here. They have all break glasses, so it is an emergency. One is allowed to come in the shop, the others is given an appointment in the afternoon to avoid contact with the otehr customers.
Every glass that is touched by a client needed desinfection, so we were said to not touched unless we are interested.

Even If I feel that I was not bad for my miserable state, the optician noticed that I seems not well and asks me a lot of questions, as he has study “sociology” and said that he is not here to only sell glasses, but to care for people. I make shorts answers, but he succeeded in making a little cry. Sociologist, but not a psychologist… Well, that is nice to try.

This week, confinement or not, our neighboors continued their bad habit to go out as a couple every day with their car, to use their moto or to make bike rides as a family despite it is forbidden. And every time they use the bikes or moto, they go through our garden as their own corridor, which makes me more and more ressentfull against them. We are not at home…

Friday April 8,
Holy day here, in memory of the WWII armistice. We watched the official commemoration in Paris. Pandemic obligations, the officials don’t worn maks but they don’t shake hands. The numbers of people is voluntary reduced.

Sunday April 10,

Last day of official confinement!

We don’t do anything this weekend apart watching a documentary on Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux.

My husband have one cloth mask and will have got some surgical masks given to his work. He will go back to a meeting at work Monday 11. They could have done it on visioconference, but there is rumors about the laziness of teachers, so they want to be physically present. The children will wait one week.

I still don’t have any mask! It is strange how it was presented by the governement as uncessary in March, and now you are almost the irresponsible person for not having them!

We also don’t have any egg to bake a cake for my daughter’s birthday… Nothing is planned.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top