C'est quoi l'amour, maîtresse ? - La Maison des maternelles #LMDM

Lolita has arrived, hello! Welcome to Les Maisons du Maternel, we are happy to welcome you. You are a school teacher, but also a teacher, that's how you call your children. You have a CE1 class and you have started workshops on affective and sexual life with them. The idea, which is very original and which we like, is that you have recorded these workshops and you are making a podcast which is fantastic. The first issue is already online, it's called C'est quoi l'amour maîtresse? And not C'est quoi l'amour professeur des écoles. Thank you Marie for not addressing my interview. First, the observation, by becoming a teacher, you have often been confronted with sexist reflections, homophobic insults between students, even aggressions on these subjects. Yes, I think we forget quite quickly, but the school is a rather violent place and therefore the children repeat a little what they hear and what they see outside and so we obviously hear insults that are not of their age at all. We hear homophobic, sexist insults, aggressions, that is to say boys who want to look under girls' skirts or children who look in the toilets to see how others are doing. And so all these subjects, I didn't really think about doing education sessions at the beginning, it was more that it was presented to me. Did it impose itself on you? It imposed itself, we had to talk about it, we had to talk about it, we had to explain it. All the CE1 students are still young. Yes, they are 7 years old. They are 7 years old, but in fact, they already know a lot of things. We often believe that our children are pure little angels, but no, they hear a lot of things, they see a lot of things, they know a lot of things, they talk to each other at school too. And so I thought that it was absolutely necessary for adults to supervise all this, we shouldn't leave them alone. In your training to become a teacher, are you made aware of these subjects? So I wasn't trained because it's a conversion, so I became a substitute teacher, but to have talked about it with many colleagues, there is nothing at all. The teachers are not trained, that's a bit of a problem. So to try to remedy all this, you have set up educational sessions for the relational life, for the affective life, for the sexual life that you have recorded. Can we teach children to love well? Can we teach them that? We can teach them what is done and what is not done in relationships, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. So yes, we can also teach them what love is, of course, and these are subjects that have been of interest to them since they are 3, 4 years old, since maternity, in fact. So children are very interested in this. Are the parents still wrapped up? Because we saw what happened recently in Belgium, with the death of equality. In France, it takes a lot of parents. Because some think that we teach their children sexual life, show them images, etc. Let's be clear, it's not about that. Absolutely not. The education of the affective and sexual life is adapted to each age. So obviously, it takes a lot of parents, who, I think, have a lot of false ideas about what it is, and who refuse without even being interested in what is happening. And then, yes, there are a lot of parents who disagree. It's in the law, you have to do it. So it's up to the teacher to do it. We can remember that it's in the law, that all teachers are supposed to do it, but that not all of them do it, for a lot of reasons. Many do not do it. Because they are not trained. Because they are not trained, because we are also afraid of the reaction of the parents. This is really a big blockade. And then, because we don't know how to deal with it, we are very uncomfortable. These are still quite intimate subjects, also a bit political. And so all teachers are not comfortable with these subjects. Sorry, it resonates with the news, to be afraid of the parents' reactions, even if they are different subjects, religions and that. But still, there are parents who come to see you, to talk to you about it. So they don't come directly, because I think they know it's mandatory, and so they don't dare. But yes, I received emails from parents who said they were not comfortable with the fact that I talk about such a subject to children. There are parents who complain to the head of the institution to say it's not normal, they shouldn't hear this and that. There are also WhatsApp groups between parents. Exactly. It's a bit of a problem. It's WhatsApp groups that are very useful to communicate, to do homework, etc. But they also sometimes serve to raise rumors, things like that. And unfortunately... Rather than coming to see you, on the contrary, what could soothe you, do you think? Of course. It's an opportunity to say it to your students' parents. Of course, go see the teachers, ask them, what are you doing? What are you talking about? It interests me, rather than saying, I don't want my child to hear about this. But what displeases them? Many things. I think there are parents who are... In fact, that's the problem, is that adults are very uncomfortable with these subjects, and so they transpose their discomfort on their children. So they say to themselves, these are not subjects for children. I also think that everything related to homosexuality, etc., there are many parents who disagree so that their children hear about it. And then... And then it's mostly ignorance. As you said, they think that pornographic images are shown to their children at school. We are at this level of rumors. And we compare fighting homophobia with promoting homosexuality. Is that it? Yes, that's the translation. That is to say, saying that we can love a little boy when we are a little boy, for them, it's promoting homosexuality. Already, I don't see the problem in promoting homosexuality. Why not? But you're not going to say that homosexuality is better than homosexuality, or the opposite, it's not your opinion at all. Obviously. Sexuality is not conditioned on a possible promotion. And that's it. Many parents think that when talking about homosexuality, their child will want to be homosexual. That's also a lot of ignorance. It's crazy, because we imagine that things are evolving, and in fact, by not hearing you too much, we remain a little worried about it. No, it's quite worrying. Well, in fact, there are feedbacks. That's it. We have the impression that we are on a progression, necessarily, on these subjects. Not at all. There are big feedbacks, and what is happening in Belgium shows it to us, and it triggers a little on France. And we notice that subjects that were a little more advanced, as soon as we make it public, it creates big parents' reactions. But not only them. There are doctors who are opposed to sexual and affective education. There are philosophers. There are a lot of people who are very educated. It's the impact of religions. Religion. Belgium is that. Yes. It's the extremists of different religions. Religion has a big role, but there are also a lot of people who are not religious. There are not only religious people with reactionary beliefs. No, no, no. So, the right, the far right, there are also a lot of them. So, let's listen to an excerpt from the advertisement of this podcast called C'est quoi l'amour, maîtresse? It's really worth listening to and listening to around you. Do you know the name of the intimate parts of your body? Oh, yes. That part, the boobs. This year, with my CE1 class, I decided to get down to the serious stuff. Today, I would like to talk about your body. So, today's topic is consent. Do we choose whom we fall in love with? I did educational sessions on emotional and sexual relationships. It's great. Yeah, it's great. Consent, isn't it the nerve of the war that concentrates everything? Yes, yes, because it allows us to approach the relationships between children at school, what is done, what is not done, what we can touch, should we hug, shouldn't we ask, etc. But it also allows to address the prevention of violence against children. So, it's really a central topic. Has it ever happened to you that things that happen at home come out? Yes. You will hear it if you listen to the whole podcast called C'est quoi, la mort maîtresse? But yes, yes, on physical violence in particular, because children talk about it because they don't realize that it's a physical thing. Yes, they say they get slaps, whips, they get their ears twisted. And so, yes, it comes out a lot. So, it's called C'est quoi, la mort maîtresse? It's in the podcast Le coeur sur la table by Victoire Toyon. We like it a lot here as well in this show. A big thank you Lolita Rivet for coming to see us. Thank you. Thank you, Lolita. Thank you.