The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of every person on the planet. A profound change has happened for families. Parents have been thrust into roles of teacher, after school care providers, entertainers, and advocates for their children. Some of these are familiar and some are not.
Children have also been asked to accept that their world has been entirely turned upside down. They stopped going to school, being able to see friends and families, go to parties and gatherings and countless other things that they took for granted.
Now some children are back in school while others are at home doing online classes. So for some kids they don’t have their friends back in school because their parents have chosen not to send them. Either choice a parent makes in this Covid climate is a difficult one.
So here are some questions: how do we best support children and their families during this time? What does that support look like? If you are a parent, what kind of help makes the biggest difference? If you are working in the schools or with children in some other setting, how do you see yourself as a support person? Does this differ from before the pandemic?
We don’t have answers to these questions for everyone. It is up to the individual. But the questions need to be asked. Skills that develop in the social, play and motor domains are all affected by the changes in how and where children are able to interact. If you want more information on what these skills might be you can order our Developmental Milestones Guide either the Professional or Parent Editions.
In our next blog we will continue our discussion of the pandemic and its affect on children.
