I have been an RN for 13 years. Watching the hygiene practices around masking in the community is enough to turn any medical professional’s stomach. They are stuffed in pockets, desks and backpacks rarely washed. The contaminated side is often touched, children inadvertently put them on inside out. This isn’t helping anyone stay safe! Our children need smiles, speech development and normalcy.

Mask wearing is not a 'symbol of safety', it is a constant reminder of 'threat to safety'. It is the basis of traumatic reaction and I am seeing trauma reactions in children as young as kindergarten. Aside from that, breathing in carbon dioxide sets off the fear centre in the brain the same way trauma does.

Communicating to children that the air they exhale may be dangerous is psychological abuse. Wearing a mask is uncomfortable, constricting and unsafe. Asking children to bare this discomfort for the sake of others, sets the stage for them to be abused. This may teach them to ignore their instincts and their physical discomfort, because a trusted adult has told them it’s what they need to do.