How do you think current environmental factors (Covid-19, the pandemic response, and all its effects) might impact children’s development (physical, cognitive, psychosocial) in the near future and long term?
Focus on children, 0-18 years.
There are many ways to answer this question, including:
What have you observed in the children you know?
What are school experiences like after an extended period of remote instruction? Sports? Afterschool programs? Social interactions?
Consider the incredible range of remote participation students brought to their classroom when they returned. Are the children who played video games during Zoom classes, or the ones who couldn’t connect to the internet, as ready for the next grade’s work as the students who worked diligently through the remote period? What factors made some kids diligent and others unengaged?
How has the development of younger children been impacted? For three-year-olds, two years is more than half of their lives. Do masks impede language development? Does social distancing impact early friendships? Do they have enough opportunities to run freely and visit playgrounds? How comfortable are they meeting new people?
How have isolation and social distancing impacted all children’s social skills? Will the wearing of masks affect the ability to correctly read and interpret social cues?
How might physical development be impacted?
Do you think some children will be unaffected by the pandemic response? Why, or why not?
