COVID-19 has definitely made a huge impact on children’s development. Dubbed as the COVID generation, babies born before and during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic lost out on a number of opportunities to develop socially.

Increased Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic childhood events that influence a child’s development. Increased social isolation and stressed caregivers give way to probable lifelong mental health problems for children who experience this adverse childhood events.

Limited Opportunities for Play-Based Learning

As childcare centers, playgrounds and other areas where children can freely play and interact with other children shut down to prevent the spread of the virus, children also lost the opportunity to learn through play. For children, playing is their method for learning and they learn best when they are also doing it in a shared space with other children. While they may not be able to play with their peers at first, they do play alongside their peers and this gives them an opportunity to slowly learn new social skills.

Impact on School Readiness

As parents opted to delay their children’s early childhood education with some opting for an in-home education, children are coming to school less prepared and unacclimated to a school learning environment. Young children who had their childcare experience cut short or intermittently due to frequent closures have had less time to learn what it is to interact with their peers. While in childcare, children learn how to manage their emotions and expectations, relate to their peers, and manage their relationships with classmates and teachers. They also get to acclimatize to being a classroom away from their parent and become a little bit more independent. They learn their values, social skills, and finetune their behavior to suit their new learning environment.

However, research data has shown that enrollments have declined by as much as 30% in most states. And this results in having children come to school much less ready to learn, unprepared to dealing with a new school environment. These kids come to the school without having had to learn how to interact with their peers, manage their emotions, communicate with their teachers, or even know how to resolve conflicts.