So I am work at an elementary school, position irrelevant. I work directly with children and am one of the few staff who is enthusiastic about doing lunch and recess supervision, so I've continued with that part of my duty this year.

Last week was my first full week back and so far I am appalled and dismayed at the depressing, paranoid and authoritarian conditions and rules the children are being subjected to and forced to abide to.

Here's some of what I'm having to enforce thus far...

• Chidlren can only sit at their desks and can only face forward. No turning around to talk because covid travels on your breath.

• Children can only eat at their desks and may only get up one at a time to retrieve their lunch bags

• Children must sanitize their hands when getting on the bus, when getting off the bus, when they enter the school, when they enter their classroom within the school. Hands must be sanitized if any of their personal belongings i.e. pencil falls on the floor and they have to pick it up. Hands must be sanitized if they throw something in the garbage. Hands must be sanitized on the way to the washroom, and once again upon return. Hands must be sanitized on the way outside to recess, and upon return. Basically the children are sanitizing their hands at least 100 times before lunch alone.

• Children cannot touch or use the playground equipment. They cannot use balls, toys, etc at all while outside. I witness them now basically walking in circles outside aimlessly or playing with twigs and rocks.

• Children have to stay within their sectioned off zone while outside and cannot play with eachother too closely or I am supposed to reprimand them (I refuse to).

• No access to the libraries, books, computers or other resources.

• Children must sign in and out to go to the bathroom and have time limits.

• If any child becomes ill/unwell for any reason while in the building they are swiftly whisked away to what is now referred to as the "isolation bay" and quarantined there under the watch of a supervisor in full hospital PPE, until their parent/guardian can come get them and have them brought to the doctor. They cannot return without a clearance from a doctor and or covid test.

You get the picture so far?

This is incredibly demotivating and depressing for me to have to try and enforce this but its even worse to see how these kids are being effected.

They are all stressed, anxious, sad, tired of hearing it, and all seem like they're just beat down in general.

My heart is literally breaking having to suddenly play prison guard and constantly give these kids a hard time for just wanting to behave normally like they should be allowed. The long term psychological and social damage this is going to cause an entire generation is unpredictable right now but im certain will be seen and felt in the very near future.

:(