I want my shela, i want my friends”: reflect the social isolation of babies in times of pandemic, on the basis of an experience lived in Portugal

Abstract

“I want my Shela, I want my friends”, the statement of Madalena, affirming her desire to return to the nurserie which, in normal times, she attends, introduces this reflection of eventual social isolation of babies in pandemic’ times. The report of families about how children from 0 to 3 years old have experienced these times, as well as what educators tell us about how distance monitoring was done and their return to institutions, help us to analyse the importance of nurseries as an educational space, particularly as a socialization forum, also highlighting the relevance of educational co-responsibility between parents and professionals. We will start with a framework in which we will address the purposes of nurseries and the general panorama translated by the low coverage of this valence in Portugal, showing that there are babies who may be at risk of isolation even in times of non-covid. In the second part, valuing the narratives of experience as an informative and formative resource, and, at the same time, as a historical record of an unusual time, we bring to analysis the description of the process developed in a nurserie, trying to assess what the children and the collaborative opportunities between parents and educators around what we understand as emancipatory childhood education.