ALBUFEIRA

How the pandemic may damage children’s social intelligence

(theconversation.com/12.02.2021)

Children’s brain development

rely on interaction with other kids

Do you remember the excitement and anticipation of your first day at school? Perhaps you were looking forward to making new friends. Or maybe you were shy and anxious. Research shows that such excitement and stress are the two most common reactions to starting school. It is telling that a large part of this emotional response is social.

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But during the COVID-19 lockdowns, many opportunities for social learning have been lost. How will this affect children’s development – and what can we do about it?

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It is likely that children are even more vulnerable when it comes to long term effects of a delay or absence in peer-to-peer interaction. We know that social brain development is a two-way street – the environment, in this case social interaction between peers, affects the brain and the brain affects the emotional and behavioural response to peers.

Physical contact is a key part

of children’s play

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For young children in lockdown, Zooms and remote meetings just don’t do it. One mother, having to cope with perpetual lockdowns, put the problem very clearly to us. “My six-year-old suddenly gets very shy when talking to his classmates on Zoom. And kids aren’t just missing out on seeing their peers, grownup role models such as grandparents and teachers are suddenly gone too.

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Therefore, the best thing that you can do as a parent right now is to ensure your young child has opportunities for play and social interaction with other children as soon as the lockdown is over and it is safe to do so.

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[theconversation.com/how-the-pandemic-may-damage-childrens-social-intelligence-154975]

(texto/legendas/imagens: sutadimages/Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock/theconversation.com)

[Clint Witchalls/The Conversation/14.05.2020]

The current pandemic, COVID-19, is a contracted form of Coronavirus disease 2019. The term for this genus of viruses was coined in 1968 and referred to their appearance under the microscope, which reveals a distinctive halo or crown (Latin corona). Virus comes from a Latin word meaning “poison”, first used in English to describe a snake’s venom.

SELF-ISOLATION, the measure of protection which involves deliberately cutting oneself off from others, is first recorded in the 1830s – isolate goes back to the Latin insulatus “insulated”, from insula “island”. An extended mode of isolation, known as quarantine, is from the Italian quarantina referring to “40 days”. The specific period derives from its original use to refer to the period of fasting in the wilderness undertaken by Jesus in the Christian gospels.

LOCKDOWN, the most extreme form of social containment, in which citizens must remain in their homes at all times, comes from its use in prisons to describe a period of extended confinement following a disturbance.

Many governments have recently announced a gradual easing of restrictions and a call for citizens to “stay alert”. While some have expressed confusion over this message, for etymologists the required response is perfectly clear: we should all take to the nearest tall building, since alert is from the Italian all’erta “to the watchtower”.

[theconversation.com/stay-alert-infodemic-black-death-the-fascinating-origins-of-pandemic-terms-138543]

(imagem: Shutterstock/theconversation.com)