'Without security, children stay home': Nahariya mother discusses starting school year during war

In the shadow of the heavy barrage in the north, and about a week before the opening of the school year, Kathy Boomer, a resident of Nahariya and a member of the "Fighting for the North" headquarters, speaks of the anxieties of children returning to school. 

"The North is at war," Boomer writes. "A daily array of alarms, noisy skies, planes, artillery, UAVs, hijackings and crashes - with most of them also without any alert. Unfortunately, this is our routine. According to the laws of nature, we, the parents, first take care of our children - for their sense of security and protection from any danger. So they learned not to go to the beach because it is dangerous, that almost no park is safe because there is no protection, and that every boom and alarm run to the shelter - to the extent that our children run to the shelter at night while sleeping."

"No matter what their age, we accompany them to the school gate lest they experience a siren/hit/interception on the way, and we will not be there to protect them. Our children did the same all last year alone and even accompanied their younger siblings. When they pass the gate of a school, kindergarten, or nursery, we pass the baton of protection to the staff of that educational institution, which will provide 100% protection for our children."

"And that's where we failed. The outline of 'the most protected there is,' which is to lie next to the wall with your head on your hands, is the most unprotected they could come up with. It does not instill the child with any sense of safety and security, but the opposite, it instills in them fear, anxiety, despair, crying, stagnation, helplessness and much, much more besides a sense of security."

Emotional distress

Boomer refers to the emotional distress caused by the situation, "Not everyone understands, but all the children of the north have one huge wound in their mental health. Some children have already shown it, some still internalize it, and some choose to hide it until it explodes. Children with nightmares at night, abandonment anxiety, fear of every little rustle, outbursts of tears and rage, it weighs heavily on them."

She called on decision-makers to act, saying, "Imagine for a second your child, grandchild, niece or nephew, during a siren, lying on the floor in the school hallway with their hands on their head surrounded by three to four classes of children like them, scared and crying."

"There is no one to protect them, no one to calm them down and give them a sense of security. They are alone with their face to the floor, and in the background, there is a siren and the sound of massive booms of interceptions and impacts."

"Full protection is required for every child, at any age. Nurseries, preschools, kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools. It is not possible that we as parents will run to the shelters during a siren, and at the same time, our children will be abandoned, with just their hands on their heads and their heads on the floor. We must give the children a therapeutic embrace, rehabilitate their damaged mental health, and bring joy and playfulness back into their eyes."

"The power is in our hands, the parents! A child's life is worth a million times more than learning another sentence in English or solving a problem in math. Without protection, children stay home."