Generation COVID

Will the kids be all right?

BY AMANDA MIZERA AND LIZZY STEIN

Tightening her pigtails as she zips her down jacket, a jump off the third stair passes as an Olympic landing. Skipping to the kitchen table, a morning hug from mom followed by a homemade smoothie is all that’s needed for the long day of Miss Brettler’s first-grade class that lies ahead. This should be the norm for 6-year-old Joey Mclees.

But not this year.

Instead, the threat of COVID-19 has kept students home from school, replacing the rich experience of a classroom with online platforms, redefining learning and interaction. For children, pivotal moments have been halted, challenging them in a crucial time of fundamental development and learned socialization. The outcome has left children across Wisconsin and the world, at large, reconstructing normalcy and navigating the uncharted path that lies ahead.

Though stress poses an adverse impact on anyone, it deeply affects children. As school closures have increased the risk of widening the achievement gap, experts worry about growing components of inequality imposed on students. Virtual learning has targeted not only the level of learning, but the ability to learn at all.

A 2020 brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which uses data from the National Survey of Children’s Health and National School-Based Health Care Census, polled parents of children undergoing school closures. More than two-thirds of parents reported concern for their child falling behind socially and emotionally as a result of limited social interaction, including missing out on organized activities and personal engagement. The study also found that one in four families live in neighborhoods without access to walking trails and sidewalks, potentially limiting a child’s access to the outdoors — a critical component in health maintenance.

Further, a June 2020 survey by Gallup Panel found nearly three in 10 parents report their school-aged child experiencing emotional or mental health problems in light of distancing practices. The risk for children with preexisting behavioral conditions is even greater. For children of color, pre-pandemic mental and behavioral problems were significantly higher because this group is least likely to receive essential care.

As statistics of the pandemic’s harmful effects on children continue to rise, so do the concerns among parents. Jason Horowitz, a psychologist and clinical assistant professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at UW–Madison, reflects on the detrimental, but also promising, elements of the pandemic as both a professional and a parent.

He admits the effects of COVID-19 are a “societal stressor,” which inevitably “affects people disproportionately based on what kinds of privilege or lack of privilege they had before it started.”

One trend that ties in with how online learning will affect children moving forward is the competitive pressure put on children at an increasingly younger age. It’s no longer a rarity to be welcomed into the world in a Bucky onesie awaiting the self-proclaiming bio of “Wisconsin Class of 2038.”

“In America, there is a push for more and more academics at younger and younger ages. My worry is that there might be this focus that’s just strictly academic. We’ve lost a year. We need to make up the gap and there will be this push to accelerate learning,” Horowitz says. “What I really want to focus on is, what did we learn about our community? What does our community need to heal? What moral lessons do we learn here? This is something I talk about with kids a lot. One of the silver linings, and maybe the biggest one, is a chance to teach about what it means to be part of a community.”

Perhaps Horowitz is right: The thickest silver lining this pandemic has produced is the value of community — a community that exists within the walls of our own home and well beyond them.

“In some ways, it allows parents to see and get to know their kids even better,” Horowitz says. “It’s a chance to slow down and make life simpler. We, as a society, are guilty of not looking or learning from our history. I think we would all benefit from being a little more humble and open to information as we form our own judgments about what to do here.”

From changing parenting styles to learning how to navigate through this new experience with their children, parents have had to deal with many obstacles when it comes to watching their children undergo such a life-changing event.

“The thickest silver lining this pandemic has produced is the value of community — a community that exists within the walls of our own home and well beyond them.”

Carol Mottram, from Middleton, a suburb of Madison, has five children ranging in ages from 3 to 13 and offers one word on how life as a parent has changed since COVID-19: exhausting. “When all the children are home, you don’t have the outlets that you once had as a stay-at-home parent,” Mottram says. In raising kids through a crisis, Mottram says her parenting style has

Sienna (right) has substituted softball practice and other pre-pandemic activities for more family time, like playing in the leaves with her sister Ari (left). adapted to being “a more understanding, loving parent and trying to really enjoy this time that we have, because we have more time with our children, and that can be a benefit.”

Enforced stay-at-home time with their families can make children feel as though they are being punished. The dreaded feeling of not being able to go to school or play with their friends can take a toll on how children are able to communicate with others. Many parents have turned to a new way of doing things when it comes to helping their children socialize and maintain meaningful connections with friends.

Karyn Riddle, a professor of strategic communication in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW–Madison and mother of two, has done extensive research on the effects of media violence on children. Despite her previous habits, the pandemic has offered a new outlook on the way her children socialize.

“My thoughts on screen time have changed so dramatically,” Riddle says. “I’m letting my son have a phone in his bedroom at night. I never, ever allowed him to do that before.”

Among the pandemic’s harmful effects is the lack of human interaction offered, specifically to children. Although technology has made socializing with others possible, it is still a two-dimensional experience. Many parents have struggled with the consequences of their children not having enough face-to-face interaction with friends.

“It becomes a balance between having to protect our kids’ physical health but also needing to think about their mental health,” Riddle says.

Mental health is a critical concern for children experiencing a pandemic, given the extensive time away from friends, teachers and other meaningful connections that teach self-confidence, social skills and other developmental traits.

“I really like being around my friends,” 12-year-old Sienna Baldwin says. “I really tried to FaceTime because I miss them a lot.”

Sienna and her younger sister Ari, who live in the Madison suburb of Waunakee, have not been able to participate in many of their regular group activities. Father Mike Baldwin says that Sienna was typically involved in karate and softball, but that “those things kind of disappeared.”

For Joey Mclees of the Madison suburb of Monona, the loss of time with her friends hit hard now that her first-grade classroom has moved completely online.

“Well it makes me really mad that I don’t get to see my friends much,” Mclees says about her time at home.

Although COVID-19 has put children all over the world on pause, they will overcome whatever future obstacles come their way.

“People are resilient. Kids are especially resilient,” Horowitz says.

Though COVID-19 means less social interaction, this pause has also promised a new way for children to think creatively, as well as a chance for them to get closer to their family and community.

When asked what would be the first thing she would do if she didn’t have to socially distance around her friends, Mclees says, “I would just go up to the friend of mine and say, ‘Hi!’ to greet each other, and we would get to hug.” •