To ask teachers and parents if Covid still has an impact on kids four years on

[Backtoit123]

Just that really. Four years on don’t still notice a major effect on children from the pandemic. I’ve heard teenagers say they feel a few years younger due to their ‘pandemic age’ but my DC are grown up and I don’t work in teaching so it’s hard to know. Do you recognise a major difference in kids now compared to kids of the same age before Covid? AIBU to ask if the pandemic still has left a legacy on children’s development?
YABU- no it doesn’t
YANBU- yes it does

I don't think my DS has been particularly affected (he's just turned 5)- but we were very lucky in that our circumstances allowed us to work flexibly as we were both self-employed at the time. It would have been much harder if we'd both been working set hours at home and I really feel for everyone who was in that position, it was awful. I felt absolutely broken by the end because I ended up working at night once he was in bed so hardly had downtime, but he seems reasonably unscathed in terms of language and social skills.

That said, I'm homeschooling him as we're waiting to move house- maybe issues will become apparent when he starts school but he seems pretty confident and can navigate friendships ok for his age.

One area where I've noticed a difference is his physical abilities- when lockdown happened, he was just at the age where they're learning to climb etc and we didn't have a big enough garden for play equipment (the playgrounds near us shut for ages, I can't remember whether that was mandatory now). I've definitely noticed that his peers who had access to climbing frames etc in their gardens were very physically confident when lockdown ended, whereas he was very frightened to play on playground equipment and massively struggled to learn to climb ladders and climbing frames. He's also quite timid of other children rushing around near him- he's an only child too so didn't have another child to play with at home. Even now, if he's in the playground and another child is using the same piece of equipment he will panic and change course. Maybe it's nothing to do with lockdown and he'd be like this anyway, but I'm trying to take him to playgrounds and soft play as much as possible during quieter times to build his confidence.

No. Not for any of the dc I know.

I remember saying, when it became apparent that there was going to be significant disruption to life as we knew it, that the bigger pandemic would be the damage to the mental health of the nation and so it has proven.

From children and teenagers who missed out on key events in primary and secondary school, to key workers who put themselves as risk on a daily basis, to older people, some of whom are now unable to socialise, leave the house, take part in every day activities.

Eh? The OP literally asked if ‘teachers AND PARENTS…’. So a reply from an actual parent is very relevant and pertinent to the question being asked. I will point out though that ‘relevant’ and ‘pertinent’ are synonyms so you only needed to use one of them in your snippy reply.

I would completely agree that this is the biggest legacy of the covid era. The impact on NHS services is massive.

Yes but what good is a reply saying no my kids have not seen any impact, just be very grateful they were not affected. It's clear to anyone who sees more than their own children that COVID lockdowns categorically had an impact on children and the impact is still happening.

It's like those threads where people pop up and say well we never had seatbelts as kids and survived etc. Of course some kids won't have been affected but that doesn't mean it's not a very real issue.

Yes, massive gaps still skills and learning. Immaturity, less able to cope with things, anxiety, poorer social skills, way more absence, lack or resilience.

Well bloody said. People need reminding it isn't because of COVID, it was the actions taken that is causing the problem.

My own kids, honestly no, and I’m kind of surprised as we were then living in a country with extremely draconian covid control measures. They therefore missed more school than they would have in the Uk and had to wear masks for much longer and had greater social restrictions and closed borders for 3 yesrs. However, possibly the difference is that there was never a stay at home order, albeit social pressure to do so. Therefore they didn’t completely miss out socially although obviously within a smaller pool of kids. I was always of the opinion that lockdowns would cause more problems than they solved so my approach to the restrictions was letter rather than spirit.

I know teachers generally think concentration spans worsened during covid but I wonder if that’s also a factor of massively increased screen time in covid which then “stuck”. A lot of teens do now spend most of their free time on screens so it’s little wonder that they don’t feel amazing - their thoughts and emotions are basically being guided by an algorithm.

You’re assuming that her experience is an isolated case so was being dismissive. It isn’t.
In my school, the current year 6 cohort is showing little signs of being impacted by lockdown. We worked hard to ensure all children had laptops and free internet access to engage in home learning. We delivered free lunches to every family every week day. We brought all classes back in to school as soon as possible and focussed on their emotional well-being once they fully returned rather than cramming in any learning they’d missed.
I truly believe that by taking an holistic approach, we have avoided putting children under unnecessary pressure to ‘catch up’ academically and thus reduced any impact lockdown may have had on their mental health.

I feel grateful that my DD is back on track but I can tell that there is some anxiety and she is so so clingy! Very close to me. Sometimes we will go to restaurants and I will notice within minutes she has scooted her chair a few cm from me - same if we are at friends for lunch or dinner or something. It’s also hard to tell how much of her behaviour is part of being the generation with access to phones and information overload. She is 11.

When speaking to friends with children, I find some have been affected in different ways. One of my friends couldn’t cope with her covid baby as she was late to develop and her eldest has had more tantrums.

Friends that had children receiving support for mental health or neurodiversity feel like they are starting from scratch post covid.

A few teacher friend has said that many pupils can’t stick to deadlines, there is less respect for teachers and teaching because of behaviour has become a nightmare.

It’s such a shame that our education and healthcare systems also have massive cuts.

Yes I definitely agree- I have homebody tendencies anyway and lockdown got me out of the habit of getting out and about. I noticed a few months ago that DS and I were spending far too much time mooching around at home and I've had to make a conscious effort to change, lockdown got me into terrible habits!

Yes I agree with speech issues, which people commented at the time would be a problem and yet concerns were dismissed. SALT data does indeed show an increase in children who were babies/toddlers (so current R and Y1) at that time. It's not helped by the waiting lists now - I'm at SENCO and they are over a year long. That's huge when you're 5!

Interesting thread and sometimes we often talk about both at school and home. I'll read all the replies later.

I am a secondary teacher and my daughter was 14 when COVID began. That's the age group that I think were most psychologically affected at the time.

As the years pass we are still picking up the pieces with the yearly intakes. They are still very very immature compared to what 11 year olds were like pre COVID.

I tutor some under 11s and tbh, it's like it never happened for them. They don't remember much, and as they were so young in school terms, it hasn't affected them academically.

This year's intake are more immature than last year's. These are the ones who what, would have been 6-7-8 so really starting to settle into school. Except it didn't happen. The ones who were at the top end of primary not so much.

With secondary kids who were already at secondary, MH issues are through the roof. At a time when they should have been out getting pissed for the first time, snogging and making plans, they were locked in their houses hearing about a fuckwit PM wanting them to sing Happy Birthday while they washed their hands, and watching their grandparents die. Eating disorders and anxiety are rife. I have 5 classes and there isn't one without at least 3 students with certified MH issues.

100% this.

Most of us as a society (bar a few people who were shouted down) decided that all of the harm caused by the lockdowns was worth the trade off for 'keeping people safe from covid'

There will be children that were fine before and fine after
There will be children who were fine but are still affected
There will be children who were fine, had a rough few years but are now back on track.
There are also children who weren't fine but now are

All are valid. But it happened. We can't pretend it didn't.

As for lockdown... doesn't anyone remember the shouting and insistence everywhere, including on here, that schools and nurseries were shut?

My dd now 16 is in year 11and has been massively affected,she is anxious and has low moods,only has a couple of friends and much prefers to be alone. I am struggling to get her to go to school it is a daily battle. I am so worried about her GCSES she has missed some of her mocks this week.
I am pleading with the school to help me, I feel powerless. My 14 year old is not anxious but doesn't meet friends it is all online as per covid. He used to meet friends at the park but now he has no interest. Luckily I don't have to force him to school.
I really feel for the teachers it must be so hard on them working with these children.

As for lockdown... doesn't anyone remember the shouting and insistence everywhere, including on here, that schools and nurseries were shut?

Absolutely. I'd be interested to hear what those people think now.

Yes, seeing issues with current year 4s. Think they were reception/year 1 over the lockdowns. Friendship issues, DC still on wait lists for SEN referrals etc. They missed a lot of really key school time. Also lots of issues with current receptions. They were around their first birthday when the first lockdown hit. Lots of speech and development issues, lots of DC that missed out of those very early interventions etc. From my experience, those are the 2 most affected groups.

Forgot to say, I only have experience of primary years. I believe the mental health effects in secondary are massive too but no experience there

The worst cohort at my school is Yr 10. They lost Yr 6 at primary and spent Yr 7 in a bubble of 30 in the same classroom all year. Their behaviour is horrendous even now. I dread their exam results next year.

My own children are 12 (Yr 8) and 9 (Yr 5). They don’t seem affected at all and rarely mention Lockdown - they barely seem to remember it!

*DS’ autism diagnosis was delayed by two years but on a mental health point of view, he doesn’t seem to be affected.

My dd is 18 now and was the first year not to get any leeway for exams despite missing year 10 completely and being off school more than in for year 11 due to the whole year having to isolate every time someone in the year had covid until track and trace did their stuff.

She just gave up in year 11 along with many of her classmates, lots of them felt angry that they were still expected to carry on as normal when their GCSE years had been anything but.

Her attitude towards education changed completely after covid and her personality in general has altered, she's a lot more anxious about life and I do believe her mental health has suffered as a result of lockdowns. She ended up with an ED and after counselling it emerged that she believed it was the only thing she had control of in her life at that time. Would it have happened if covid didn't exist? I can't answer that but I know she's not the same child she was before 2020.

I work in Reception and this year's cohort are SO behind in speech and language. Every school in our area is struggling. They missed so much of that early speech that you get from social communication, and even the parents who read with their children every day are saying their kids are struggling with phonics blending. I think a lot of them saw masks for so long that they don't know how to make or imitate simple mouth sounds.

Yes...so much learning missed which is very obvious now coming up to GCSEs. Kids think school is optional.

She just gave up in year 11 along with many of her classmates, lots of them felt angry that they were still expected to carry on as normal when their GCSE years had been anything but.

Totally understandable.