covid children

The other day, my mom and I were discussing the mental-emotional toll that the pandemic will have on our children. We know that professionals are saying that distance learning has been difficult, especially for elementary-aged kids and for those who were already in disadvantaged situations. Scores have declined, stress and anxiety have escalated. What will be the long-term outcome, we wonder?

Aside from the scholastic repercussions of this period in history, what if the emotional outcome might be positive? What if, like other forms of adversity, we as adults make a conscious decision to use these circumstances to create more resilient children? And not just stronger kids who are better equipped to handle stress down the road in their lives. But more emotionally balanced and empathetic children? They can be stronger in the sense that they understand concepts that older generations have struggled to master—concepts like kindness, goodness, honesty, and integrity. That they understand the power of inclusion and embracing differences. We can create children who step onto the other side of this pandemic and the “Trump era” as mental-emotional leaders, ready to put their new skills into action to repair a world that has been shattered by greed, selfishness, and the lust for power.
 
To create this is to become conscious ourselves. Like everything else, we have to stop living in default, moving through our daily lives like we are on a mental treadmill. We can no longer embrace the same values and norms that have contributed to the breakdown of our psyches and cultural systems.
 
We must continue to wake up so that we can help our children to become more emotionally powerful than we had ever dreamed possible. They are ready and waiting to be guided. They are already taking the lead in some situations, and they need our support.
 
Whether or not you have kids yourself, are you willing to become a guide for our world’s Covid Children?

#BettyDogSeries #Empathy #Kindness