A less-obvious effect of the pandemic is on the emotional development of children. I hadn't fully realised how large a part social interaction plays in making us fully human. The past 15 months have brought this lesson home.
https://twitter.com/banglani/status/1386391356516442112
My wife made an interesting observation recently. The incoming class of 6th graders is much more "childish" than previous classes. In online classes they ask the teacher permission to go to the toilet in their own homes. They complain to the teacher if their pen leaks.
These kids last went to school in grade 4. The rules of social interaction for them, both with other children and with adults, are frozen in time. They behave like 4th graders still because they're not learning new rules from each other. So they look to the adults for direction.
We have noticed this in our own kids. To parents of young kids it comes as a relief. "Thank God, our son can remain small for another year"; "We've got our baby back".
But he's not supposed to be a baby still. He's watching the same cartoons as he did in 2019 because there are no friends to tell him what's cool. He isn't deciding what to share with parents and what to keep secret because there are no social cues.
It feels cute but it's probably unhealthy. I suspect there will be a steep learning curve when school reopens. An 11-year old will go back to school as a teenager and will have to learn how to be one, not gradually but all at once. There will be fights and tears and heartbreaks.
The adults around them, both parents and teachers, will have to be extra understanding and give them time and space to grow into their sudden new selves. It will be tough for everyone, but most of all for the babies who are babies no more.
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