Socially/behaviorally, I think the issues are a result of the screen generation of parenting. Some kids are totally and completely screen addicted at shockingly young ages. Parents can't run into Target for 15 minutes without handing the kid a phone. The amount of kids using their computers at inappropriate school times is high. Defiance/ignoring of teachers is also high.
I work in an ES across multiple grades. |
Agree |
Yep. My kids (8th graders) call these ipad kids (generally 4th and below). |
Same. I think the younger ones are more mature than the older ones where at the same age. |
Learning disabilities are not generally flagged by schools till 2-3. If you knew your child was struggling you need to get them help. We taught at home long before Covid. |
Schools don’t teach spelling, grammar, math facts. Parents have to do it. |
You are very wise. I agree with you 100%. We still have relaxed expectations in my public school district due to Covid. Why? I am a parent sitting on district committees and nobody can quickly summarize the degree to which we are still impacted by the pandemic learning loss. The chromebooks are 100% now but the kids aren't learning more/better and the teachers are very inconsistent with the learning management/grade portal. And there is epidemic use of phones in class for non-schoolwork purposes. As a parent, I've allowed too much screen usage. But not sure what to do about it. My kids are doing reasonably well in school. I just wished their free time was better spent. |
My DS is in 5th and for him I think his handwriting is the only thing that has suffered. He wouldn’t have otherwise been using a laptop to do work in 2nd grade when that skill was really developing. We supplemented from the summer after 1st through the middle of 3rd with small group tutoring, I think that made a huge difference and has paid off in his math and reading.
I think a lot of the issues, regardless of grade, is that parents and adults were greatly affected more than we realize and it’s trickled down to kids. |
It was really hard for current 5th graders to get testing in 2nd or 3rd because of Covid. Schools weren't doing testing or IEPs. Totally not legal, but that's what happened where I was. Private testing was hard to get too and tutoring was virtual or with masks. A lot of parents didn't have the skills to help their kid. It was a mess. |
My 5th grader and her friends seem largely unaffected. It hard to know for sure of course, but they’ve been amazingly resilient.
My 1st grader (turned 3 in Feb 2020) who missed 18 months of preschool has behavioral challenges and the teacher says there’s a lot of it in their classroom. Again, hard to know for sure, but the shutdown seems to have a bigger effect there. It was also hard to know if delays (potty training, speech, focus) were typical absent peers so we didn’t really flag some of her problems until later. |
DS and his friends seem mostly unaffected. The only thing I've noticed is that some still seem younger than I thought kids would be who are about to enter MS. Not necessarily immaturity, I'm not sure how to describe it. I was shocked by how many of DS' friends still believe in Santa and the like. |
You’re right, I guess there’s no short cut. It was much easier playing math games with first and Second graders. |
It’s sad to see babies or toddlers in a stroller out and about and they are watching a TV program. This has become so common. Then you see the ones with no screen and they are engaged with their surroundings, smiling at people, looking around. I just don’t get it. |
I have a third grader, and I think it affected their age group the most. He was in Preschool and then kindergarten during the lockdowns. I think the most long-term damage is kids who are currently 9 and 10 years old. |
Our public school got rid of timed math quizzes for addition/subtraction/multiplication/division facts because it was "too stressful" and "made kids feel bad" when they didn't know their math facts. I kid you not.
And here we are, with a whole generation of middle schoolers who don't know what 45 divided by 9 is. |