My children marvel at the first dancing snow, fragile and shy, which gradually lines the frozen ground. He was born two and a half years ago during a glowing spring when anything was possible. She took her first breath 14 months ago in the shadows of a maddening hospital room. An hour after pushing my daughter from my bowels, I was told that I was covidated. Trauma, certainly, which marks a mother.
My little ones, affectionately nicknamed gnocchi, do not care much about the ordinary and sometimes wild tragedies of the world. They are cheerful. In front of the splendor and the enchantment of winter, they want to play. Dark evenings like December spit them out on us, so I play with them. Because the day, height of the emancipation of the XXIe century, I work. Thanks to years of struggle, my gnocchi learn passionately with qualified, passionate and loving educators. Thank you to the seasoned builders who made our public daycare services happen. This is a pure gem that we must cherish.
For the year to come, I wish my offspring to continue to be moved by everything and nothing, to leaf through enchanting tales that tell cute stories of courage and hope, to glide at full blast on the icy snow , to sing a perky Charlie Brown chorus, to be afraid of the monsters under the bed, to hope to meet Santa Claus.
Grateful, at Christmas, I will thank from the bottom of my heart the educators who take care of my children. They transmit to them, even more every day, the desire to grow up cheerfully with intelligence, curiosity and sensitivity. It is not nothing, it is all in short. It’s life.
Without them, other women would not have been able to free themselves from the domestic sphere. Daycare educators are the backbone of our society.
Sometimes I want to call them “saints”, but adoration has its limits and does not change their working conditions. We owe them much more than “Merry Christmas”. They deserve a salary worthy of their functions. After months of struggle, daycare workers have seen their wages increase. I stand in solidarity with them.
The work of care is defined by researcher Pascale Molinier as being the activity of caring for others: changing diapers, feeding, rocking, washing … The Council for the Status of Women also argues that 82% of the social and health sector is made up of women. The educators are 96% women. Historically, women in this sector have been poorly paid. This is what the philosopher Fabienne Brugère, author of The ethics of care. She clearly recalls that those who provide care for children in particular and for the elderly come from different classes, but have in common that they are underpaid.
It is time to take an interest in the invisibilization of their precarious status. Without these heroines, our productivity-driven market economy would fail to the detriment of all.
I wish my children to marvel even more luminously every day. Their candor is a gift to be cherished. But it was also necessary to take care of the staff of the daycares who give tirelessly. That is why it seems fundamental to me to reiterate our support for their struggle over the past few months. To smile again, let us remain united.