How Pandemic Babies are Really Doing These Days

Now that the youngest babies of our COVID era are almost ready for school, and the little ones who were toddlers during lockdown are now well into elementary school, some researchers and educators are voicing concerns about their readiness and ability to keep up in class—and in life.

Last summer, when The New York Times released an investigation showing how much kids in kindergarten through grade three across the U.S. are struggling, the internet exploded in a collective parental panic. And a lot of questions followed, including: They’ve only just started school how can they be behind? Little kids are at home a lot anyway, why would school closures affect a toddler’s development? Won’t they just catch up? The other question Canadian parents have been wondering is whether our children are actually falling behind to the same degree as our neighbours to the south.

“What we see in children who lived through the pandemic in Canada is that they are not doing as well as before, but that the concerns are not as bad as we feared,” says Lianne Tomfohr-Madsen, a clinical health psychologist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia.

Why some kids are falling behind in school

Experts have not been overly surprised to find that older children fell behind in math, reading, and other subjects, due to school closures. (The let-down of the online learning model has been well documented.) And while the degree to which pandemic times affected the learning of kids who were babies back then is alarming, it’s not surprising, says Jacqueline Salazar, a psychologist and co-author of The Self-Regulation Workbook for 3 to 5 Year Olds.  “When we think about development, we want to account for significant events that could impact or delay [a child], such as poverty, abuse or significant life events such as divorce—or the pandemic,” she says. 

School curriculum assessments in the U.S. have found that kids who are now in grade three, and were as young as three or four when the pandemic began, remain behind children the same age prepandemic, especially in math. Research from American schools coupled with observations of early childhood educators has painted a picture of kids who are behind in everything from fine motor skills to emotional regulation capabilities, to ABCs. Data from public schools in Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, reported just 28 percent of kindergarten students began the last school year prepared, down from 36 percent prepandemic.   

This stalled development in key areas has been explained by a range of factors, including too much screen time (and not enough physical play), a lack of socialization and even the effects of parental stress on babies and young children. 

How are Canadian kids doing?

A study by Canadian researchers, co-authored by Tomfohr-Madsen and published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, found that most babies born during the pandemic were doing relatively well, with almost 90 percent meeting their key developmental milestones. But, a slightly higher proportion of children born during the pandemic were at risk of developmental delay in communication, gross motor and personal-social domains, compared to children born before the pandemic.

For those who are still pre-school age, a small percentage will be struggling when they start kindergarten and will likely require extra support. “This represents an increase of about one to two children in 100 who are at risk but highlights some potentially concerning effects of the pandemic on early child development,” says Tomfohr-Madsen. “Although small in absolute terms, these increases have important implications, since already limited resources will need to increase to meet the needs of more children,” she says.

As for older kids, early data shows that Canadian students have also experienced a drop in math and reading compared to prepandemic scores. And, that students who were already behind, or vulnerable to being behind, experienced the biggest drops in their scores. 

“We also saw that there were language delays in kids exposed to the pandemic, especially those who had exposure to closed schools and childcare,” says Tomfohr-Madsen. “This speaks to the need to prioritize child mental health when natural disasters hit, ensuring that learning and care remain a priority.”

How parents can support little ones who are slipping

The first step, if you think there’s a problem, is to talk to your doctor right away. “If parents suspect that their child is behind, early intervention is key and so seeing your family physician or pediatrician and getting access to evidence-based assessment and an intervention plan,” says Tomfohr-Madsen.

It’s essential to keep an open line of communication with educators and caregivers, so you can all watch for signs of problems, and do what’s required to keep your kid on track. Teachers and school boards often have readily available resources to guide the learning support you can give at home.

And you can encourage your child’s emotional-social growth, too with resources like Salazar's Self-Regulation Workbook or simple exercises. One game that Salazar recommends is called “Tip of the Iceberg.” Kids use coldness to learn about regulating intense emotions like anger and frustration. They start by hopping on the spot or thinking of something that makes them mad, then press a cold pack (or sandwich bag containing a few ice cubes) to their head, neck or arm, to “cool off.” 

Bottom line: if you suspect that your little one is a bit behind, don’t panic. For kids who are slipping, with help, most can and will regain the ground they’ve lost. “Reassuringly, early interventions can be highly effective for children who are struggling,” says Tomfohr-Madsen.