Here we sit a year into the COVID-19 Pandemic. While many of us are familiar with how it has affected our lives and lives of our family, do we know what it has really done to children and those who teach them?
Early Childhood Educators were asked in Minnesota and other areas to remain open, to help the workforce with child care. The stability we provided children in these unstable times was more important than allowing a parent to go to work.
We provided a safe environment for children to be children, and parents to feel confident their child was in good care. We provided the necessary routine and consistency needed for emotional health and development and we provided places of joy.
I wanted to look at what I was seeing in children and I asked a few others in the field of Early Childhood to share their thoughts. I was graciously given interviews by:
Heather Andrew PreK teacher in Oklahoma Public Schools
Nicole Brank, Center Manager, Love To Grow On Child Development Center
Tom Hobson, Teacher Tom
Rae Pica, Early Childhood Consultant & Author
One question I asked was:
What is the biggest difference you have noticed in the children you work with from the beginning of the pandemic to where we are in February 2021?
At the beginning of the pandemic, the young children in my life missed their friends. I believe they still miss their friends, but they have adapted, as children so easily do, to a world with fewer face-to-face interactions. Parents are telling, however, that their children are more irritable than prior to the pandemic. Many tell me their kids have become "addicted" to screens. – Tom Hobson
Children seem to be needing intentional time and touch. However, I’ve noticed their way of communicating is funneled through their physicality. -Heather Andrew
The biggest difference I have noticed is that the older kids are really excited to see other children. I also notice the infants have a harder time when other teachers step into the room because of facemasks and having more stranger danger. -Nicole Brank
My second question was:
What do you miss about pre-pandemic education, “normal”.
I imagine in most cases there was a great deal less screen time!! – Rae Pica
So many things. Navigating their need for large movements with little space due to desks being put in the room for social distancing.
Masks make it hard for my children to read my face when they so desperately need all forms of communication. Communicating that I love them deeply when we feel so emotionally distant.I also feel like the rules take away from them being fully independent in the classroom. I’ve had to be extremely creative in creating a space of independence. - Heather Andrew
Teacher Tom responded with, I recently wrote a blog post about this:
I miss the feeling of little fingers exploring my knee cap through the holes in my jeans as I read from a story book.
I miss the blast of overheated breath against my cheek as they excitedly whisper their news in my ear.
I miss the warmth of tears spreading through the fabric of my shirt and onto my shoulder as I hold them after a fall.
I miss the dampness that soaks through the seat of my pants when I sit on wet ground in order to be eye-to-eye with them.
I miss being genuinely eye-to-eye……
I miss being in the presence of so much love.
I miss spending my days learning from free people who grieve quickly, then come to accept their world as it is today, right now, engaging it without wasting a moment on what is missing.
See full post here http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/what-i-miss.html
To wrap up all their thoughts and mine, we realize the slowdown and changes brought on by the pandemic also brought good things for our children I would like to close with these thoughts.
Spending more time with mom and dad has been by far the biggest benefit for many kids. For children who struggled with school (too hectic, pressured, busy) this time has been a boon. I'm thinking specifically of children with autism and sensory challenges. -Tom Hobson
They still have a natural desire to wonder, and discover their world. I’m surprised by this but it just affirms why I do what I do. -Heather Andrews
Unless children are in situations where they’re forced to be in “Zoom school” from 7:30 am to 2 pm (just one of the horrible stories I’ve heard), most children have had more time to play and be children. It is my great hope that parents will witness the joy of that and feel less pressure to give them a head start in academics. That children will get to be children! Rae Pica
I think the positive is that children got to have more family time with parents and siblings (if they had any) - Nicole Brank
The pandemic brought Early Childhood Educators into a more visible position, than that of child care. Our ability to keep children safe and happy so parents could work without fear of their child’s well-being stood out. So has the importance of play in childhood, begun to become more visible. It is my hope that we as a country will realize children learn best when allowed a childhood of freedom in play and less emphasis on sedentary education practices that do not benefit the ability to learn. Adults are experiencing Zoom Fatigue, but we have been putting children through School Fatigue for decades.
Links you might like to check out:
For Rae Pica
Website: www.raepica.com
Free e-library for early childhood professionals, currently with 17 e-books: https://www.raepica.com/free-resource-elibrary/.
For Teacher Tom:
Blog: teachertomsblog.blogspot.com
Website: Teachertomsworld.com
Books: https://www.teachertomsworld.com/books
E-courses: https://www.teachertomsworld.com/e-courses
For Nicole Brank
Love To Grow On Child Development Center www.lovetogrowon.com
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