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From mental health changes to bonding over shared experiences, the pandemic will have long-term effects on many children.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed all of our lives, but for developing children, its impact may have more long-term effects.
“Every child’s experience of the pandemic is different based on their temperament and their home life,” Jacqueline P. Wight, director of mental health services at DotCom Therapy, told HuffPost. “Many children have experienced mental health challenges, and we anticipate that for some of these children, there will be lasting effects. For others, the challenges were more situational and will subside as life returns to normal.”
It s natural and expected for children to experience anxiety around the transitions of the coronavirus pandemic.
“After any disaster or traumatic experience, while the wish and hope is for a rapid return to ‘normal,’ the psychological and emotional aftermath greatly exceeds the more defined boundaries of the trauma itself,” said Dr. Ilisse Perlmutter, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Talkiatry in New York City.
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“Children’s reactions may appear immediately… or may not appear for days, weeks, even years. We also need to remember that innumerable children and adolescents lost parents, grandparents and other loved ones during this pandemic. The resulting grief and anxiety can take many forms, and recovery, or moving forward from these losses, is not necessarily correlated with a return to life as it was before.”
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It s natural and expected for children to experience anxiety around the transitions of the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has presented countless challenges to children from an academic, social and mental health perspective. But the shift back into more “normal” ways of life can also be difficult for kids.
Of course, we’re not exactly in a post-pandemic world (especially for children younger than 12 who have yet to gain access to any COVID-19 vaccines) as concerns rise about case counts and highly contagious variants. But there’s no doubt things seem different this summer, with camp, travel and back-to-school preparations in full swing. And even these positive changes can be challenging and anxiety-provoking.
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