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I'm wondering how kids are doing and what the perceptions of parents are about the health and well-being of their progeny.
Kids are doing well. The pandemic was a boon for our children. Because of WFH rotations, they had both parents in the house through all of the period when they were remotely “schooled”. While the remote schooling for elementary schoolers was a joke, because they had us in the house we accelerated their education, emotional development, and physical development. The pandemic meant we could do our jobs AND homeschool, which was great!
They learned to ride bikes without training wheels, and we tooled around parking lots, malls, and campuses emptied by the pandemic.
We sidewalk-chalked up pretty much the entire town in the middle of empty streets.
When the city playgrounds were fenced off (ridiculous), we found every single private/HOA playground in the area and had a blast.
Since no one could go anywhere, we built up enough vacation to be able to quarantine in a covid-free country and take an extended vacation in a society where things were “normal.” A strict two-week quarantine of our family in a small apartment was quite an experience (of a lifetime). I wouldn’t call it “fun” but it wasn’t bad, and we certainly bonded as a family.
I’d say the only downside was not being able to do stuff like team sports/swimming/ballet/music for a year or two. However, that sure gave us a huge boost to our family finances. Once in-person stuff started again, they joined the swim team as soon as pandemic restrictions were dropped, and are extra-enthusiastic about group/team sports/classes since they had a couple of years without them.
They had no side-effects from the vaccines. They rarely get sick, and they never tested positive for COVID (though we tried to test them as little as possible while still being socially responsible). Our whole family seems healthier since being vaccinated, and I would guess there is some cross-protection from other coronaviruses. We do the influenza vax and I look forward to a yearly MRNA vaxx for both flu and colds (because pre-pandemic, I would have 10 solid days of miserey from colds at least twice a year. Haven’t had a single one since 2020). I was the only one of our family who ever tested positive for COVID, but it was so mild I would not have even said I was sick, if I hadn’t tested. Got a nice government-paid vacation out of the deal, though I did religiously mask up with N-95’s and quarantine myself from the family when we were indoors (while COVID-positive). Had a lot of fun playing/boating/biking/beach for most of the day outside though.
We learned of the pandemic from overseas relatives in January of 2020, knew that it would reach the USA sooner than the news was saying, and started taking extra precautions early, until we learned that it was not very deadly to healthy adults, and was basically a regular cold for elementary-school-aged children. We masked indoors (mainly we just didn’t go indoors--sending one masked adult in for groceries and the like) and stayed away from other people so as not to spread it, but we never had any serious concerns about our own health. We also told our children they had nothing to worry about, and that we were taking precautions to protect people who were old, sick, and/or weak.
I’m proud of how they never complained and how they took their social responsibilities seriously, even when they saw other people who did not. Our family motto (about the pandemic) was “we only control how WE act, and we always try to do the right thing.”
Based on their classmates, I would guess other families in our area of coastal California had similar experiences. While our children are in good shape physically and at/near the top of their class academically, they are not far beyond their peers, so other families were apparently also supplementing their kids’ educations.
There are still a few kids who come to school with masks on (maybe 1-2%) and nobody makes a fuss about it. When masks were mandated, compliance was not an issue. We have a good group of level-headed parents at our school who--no matter their personal politics--care about the school community and teach their kids to do the same. We did not lose any children, teachers, or staff to COVID. We also haven’t seen the wave of retirements or layoffs that you hear about on the news.
I’d guess the pandemic was harder on other age groups, but those in early-elementary school my experience has been that the disaster did not have a negative impact on my children.
Kids are doing well. The pandemic was a boon for our children. Because of WFH rotations, they had both parents in the house through all of the period when they were remotely “schooled”. While the remote schooling for elementary schoolers was a joke, because they had us in the house we accelerated their education, emotional development, and physical development. The pandemic meant we could do our jobs AND homeschool, which was great!
They learned to ride bikes without training wheels, and we tooled around parking lots, malls, and campuses emptied by the pandemic.
We sidewalk-chalked up pretty much the entire town in the middle of empty streets.
When the city playgrounds were fenced off (ridiculous), we found every single private/HOA playground in the area and had a blast.
Since no one could go anywhere, we built up enough vacation to be able to quarantine in a covid-free country and take an extended vacation in a society where things were “normal.” A strict two-week quarantine of our family in a small apartment was quite an experience (of a lifetime). I wouldn’t call it “fun” but it wasn’t bad, and we certainly bonded as a family.
I’d say the only downside was not being able to do stuff like team sports/swimming/ballet/music for a year or two. However, that sure gave us a huge boost to our family finances. Once in-person stuff started again, they joined the swim team as soon as pandemic restrictions were dropped, and are extra-enthusiastic about group/team sports/classes since they had a couple of years without them.
They had no side-effects from the vaccines. They rarely get sick, and they never tested positive for COVID (though we tried to test them as little as possible while still being socially responsible). Our whole family seems healthier since being vaccinated, and I would guess there is some cross-protection from other coronaviruses. We do the influenza vax and I look forward to a yearly MRNA vaxx for both flu and colds (because pre-pandemic, I would have 10 solid days of miserey from colds at least twice a year. Haven’t had a single one since 2020). I was the only one of our family who ever tested positive for COVID, but it was so mild I would not have even said I was sick, if I hadn’t tested. Got a nice government-paid vacation out of the deal, though I did religiously mask up with N-95’s and quarantine myself from the family when we were indoors (while COVID-positive). Had a lot of fun playing/boating/biking/beach for most of the day outside though.
We learned of the pandemic from overseas relatives in January of 2020, knew that it would reach the USA sooner than the news was saying, and started taking extra precautions early, until we learned that it was not very deadly to healthy adults, and was basically a regular cold for elementary-school-aged children. We masked indoors (mainly we just didn’t go indoors--sending one masked adult in for groceries and the like) and stayed away from other people so as not to spread it, but we never had any serious concerns about our own health. We also told our children they had nothing to worry about, and that we were taking precautions to protect people who were old, sick, and/or weak.
I’m proud of how they never complained and how they took their social responsibilities seriously, even when they saw other people who did not. Our family motto (about the pandemic) was “we only control how WE act, and we always try to do the right thing.”
Based on their classmates, I would guess other families in our area of coastal California had similar experiences. While our children are in good shape physically and at/near the top of their class academically, they are not far beyond their peers, so other families were apparently also supplementing their kids’ educations.
There are still a few kids who come to school with masks on (maybe 1-2%) and nobody makes a fuss about it. When masks were mandated, compliance was not an issue. We have a good group of level-headed parents at our school who--no matter their personal politics--care about the school community and teach their kids to do the same. We did not lose any children, teachers, or staff to COVID. We also haven’t seen the wave of retirements or layoffs that you hear about on the news.
I’d guess the pandemic was harder on other age groups, but those in early-elementary school my experience has been that the disaster did not have a negative impact on my children.
It sounds like your family made the best of things.
This isn't targeted towards you, personally, but I wonder how kids, in general, think of and describe those times. I imagine some creative teachers or parents with writing assignments asking about such an important historical event that they experienced.
This isn't targeted towards you, personally, but I wonder how kids, in general, think of and describe those times. I imagine some creative teachers or parents with writing assignments asking about such an important historical event that they experienced.
I think that would be an excellent assignment, except that some people DID lose family members to COVID. Therefore, I don’t think a teacher could assign that sort of paper without being sure that their students did not lose a loved one. Maybe in college or late in High School. It could cause problems if some kids wrote about COVID in positive terms while others lost a sibling, parent, or grandparent to it.
Our family went through a major local disaster that required us to evacuate, prior to covid. My children were concerned about what would happen if we lost our house. I told them that would be great, because we could get an even better new house, courtesy of the insurance company and state disaster response. We could even get our stuff replaced with better stuff. This did happen to some of our neighbors, but where some people might celebrate a fancy new house, others would mourn the loss of personal possessions and heirlooms. Also, there were people who lost everything with no upside; renters and those with lapsed insurance. Luckily, no one died.
So everyone experiences adversity differently. Some people don’t even count it as adversity. One of my children had nightmares that may have been triggered by the disaster, while the other (and I) were a little miffed that our (junky old) house survived.
With COVID, and the social and political upheaval of your initial question, I think it is important to explain and frame the events in an age-appropriate manner. Look for and emphasize the upsides and what the family and children can and are doing to prepare and make the most of the situation. Certainly avoid protests, gatherings of adults, and any activity or media that might expose the children to anything scary or dangerous. I think you’ll find most parents think this way. Doom and gloom, angst and fear, and certainly disruption and violence are not appropriate for children of any age. So most families likely went through COVID, BLM, elections, conspiracies, etc, through some manner of hunkering down and focusing on keeping the kids feeling safe and happy. That’s not ignorance or pollyannaism, but simply one of the requirements of parenthood.
My spouse and I, while recognizing that we are fortunate, suffered through COVID disruptions and isolation. We both recognized that there was a not-insignificant chance of death or disability from the virus, and we were quite relieved when we completed our first set of vaccinations. Our lives and plans were derailed, we worry about the state of the USA and the world. However, we don’t burden our children with these things, that should all wait until adulthood.
Due to gun violence, yes, I am. I have two teenaged children.
I have a personal connection to more than one school shooting. So that's not an abstract possibility for me. Every time I take my kids to a concert or other event with a lot of people, I find myself looking for where we would go if someone started shooting.
My children are also girls, and we live in Texas, so there's that.
The bolded makes me think a lot of parents must be in denial. That statement is completely absurd.
Just because it doesn't fit your agenda?
Quote:
Originally Posted by considerforamoment
My only interest regarding this question is if parents are more concerned about their children since the pandemic, or not. No other factors are considered for this poll.
Considering your reactions to member responses, I don't believe it.
It sounds like your family made the best of things.
This isn't targeted towards you, personally, but I wonder how kids, in general, think of and describe those times. I imagine some creative teachers or parents with writing assignments asking about such an important historical event that they experienced.
This is a big part of what several of us have tried to get across. There is no answer how "kids in general" were affected. A lot depends on where they lived and how the community, they lived in responded and got back to normal.
There's an interesting mindset that I've observed over the last 15 years or so. Really started showing up right after the 2008 economic crisis. The new normal. It's a mindset of things are bad and not going to get better so get used to the new normal. We saw the same thing after COVID. Get used to the new normal. It's really a sad mindset to be in; to believe that things are bad and not going to get better.
Or a different mindset. One of "let's get back to normal." A mindset of making things get better. Take a moment to hurt; to grieve. Then saddle up and get back in it.
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