Mental, emotional and social health issues (MESH) have come to the forefront of life after COVID isolation.
Summer camp directors nationwide were the first responders in 2021, and now school teachers are taking over.
The issues are real.
When childhood was put on pause more than 18 months ago, children’s mental, emotional and social growth also stalled out. The normal development that happens when kids play with other kids, the facing of small but constant challenges at school, clubs, and teams… just stopped.
Yet children kept growing physically. Hormones and other chronological changes kept coming, but the toolkits that children normally are able to stock remained empty.
And suddenly—children are back in the world, but many are woefully under equipped.
Being in close proximity with others can cause anxiety or even panic: there is nothing rational about it, but after months on end of protecting themselves from physically contacting other people, kids can freak out being close together again. It’s simply feels threatening.
Some kids have forgotten their words, feel unnatural and awkward outside of their nuclear family.
One resource we have found is https://www.onoursleeves.org/about
Another camp director ponders the subject https://shar.es/aWjqSH
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