How the pandemic has impacted toddlers and young children
Carolina Ibarra-Nielsen gave birth to her daughter Cruz days before the pandemic hit in 2020.
"I'm sure we'll be fine, and then a couple weeks later, they closed down schools and I'm at home with both kids," Ibarra-Nielsen said.
She said she had her family to help her with her oldest child, but because of the pandemic, she's still navigating alone without them. Her mother and now 1-year-old connect over Face Time.
"I know my daughter first recognizes the voice first then the face and I know that they've bonded in their own way, but not the same way that my son bonded," Ibarra-Nielsen said.
CHI clinical psychologist Michelle Roley-Roberts said the pandemic will have some impacts on smaller children.
"Not being exposed to people outside your little bubble might be hard," Roley-Roberts said. "It'll be interesting to see toddlers to 4, 5, 6-year-olds ya know, if they were 3 and never been to a grocery store."
Caitlin Vering, a mom of five, said her 4-month-old twins Thomas and Emmett are too young to tell if they've been impacted, but she said her 4-year-old son has adapted to the pandemic life.
"He's very obsessed with wearing a mask, and so, if we draw pictures of people or something and he's like, 'Don't forget their mask,' and he thinks that even drawings of people need to have their mask," Vering said.
Roley-Roberts said she anticipates parents will have to re-teach their children once restrictions are lifted for good.
"There will be a fair amount of teaching norms again to kids," Roley-Roberts said.
Vering's back at work, but she said it was hard at first.
"There's still just a little risk," Vering said. "That made me anxious, and then our kids go to daycare and they could get sick."
Ibarra-Nielsen said her daughter really hasn't left the house.
"She's never been to a grocery store. I used to love to go to TJ Maxx and Target. We haven't done that," Ibarra-Nielsen said.
"I think they'll be some components of the pandemic that will fundamentally shape society and that will, in turn, shape kids," Roley-Roberts said.
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