How to not kill your kids during coronavirus lockdown

"I've put the kids in the freezer, so everything's cool now." Parents may be joking on social media about their childcare hell as more and more countries go into lockdown with the coronavirus.

But child protection professionals are not laughing.

They have real worries about the risks with families locked up 24/7 together for an indefinite period.

"You will no doubt want to throw your children out the window at some point. That's normal," psychologist Moira Mikolajczak told AFP.

"What isn't normal, is to do that," she warned, as she urged parents to give themselves a break and "not try to be Superman or Superwoman".

While governments across Europe from Ireland to Greece have been having schools send lessons and activity ideas by email to occupy bored children, social media is full of testimony from parents frazzled at having to be both teacher and playmate to their kids.

Grassroots groups, however, are trying to step into the gap with the French feminist collective #NousToutes ("All of Us"), which campaigns against domestic violence, mobilising with WhatsApp support groups and practical tips on how "not to blow your top".

"Being locked down gives us the chance to spend lots and lots of time with our children," the group said, tongue ever so slightly in cheek.

But when "we have to work from home and we are all stuck together in a small space, tensions can escalate."
"We can predict increases in parental burnout," she said, and sometimes there could even be "neglect and violence". - 'Relax the rules' -