Off, on, off screens and relationships: The anxiety of eye to eye masked contact post lockdown 3

FROM MEMES ONLINE TO POLITICS IN THE PLAYGROUND

For many children, this week sees the return to the classroom and further changes and rules of what is expected of them in a setting that used to make sense. What was once a space and place of routine, social norms and physical proximities may now be akin to the toddler going to nursery for the first time. The feelings in the body of safety are going to be heightened, unknown unknowns creating anxiety and perhaps the speed at which parents and carers ‘drop off’ and scoot away may leave children screaming at the doorway. This may be metaphorical here in this article, but also may well be something Teachers and Staff are left to contend with as children and young people transition into the post lockdown Education systems once more, for yet another round of trusting that ‘school is safe’

Where children and young people have been at home for so long and become habituated to their families daily life script and processes, going back into the big wide world may be uncomfortable. After all, by staying home and in the words of the Prime Minister “Staying safe” the process of being around others outside of your family bubble is of course, by default something that has been considered to be unsafe. Naturally being told ‘this is safe’ deems the ‘not this’ to be unsafe. Even though we as a nation were told schools were safe and in less than 24 hours that they were not. And so to quote a child client ‘well which is it?’

In trauma or extreme cases of stress, I see what all of the literature supports which is lack of clear boundaries, processes, and knowledge IS the trauma for many young people or the precipitating factor for anxiety-related behaviours and feelings. And whilst the world around them is playing ‘hokey cokey lockdown’ personal safety will be sought from their primary caregivers, in this case, parents/carers and in some cases residential settings. We have plenty of theories such as attachment, neuroscience, sociology and child development to back up claims as to how children manage in new settings or with changes and what we can do as the adults around them to help them transition into these settings, however, what is not known fully is…