Impact of staff masking on littlest kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We know that babies need language rich environments in their first three years of life. We also know that babies cannot learn to speak from screens - they need to see the mouth movements clearly.

I don’t think anyone knows the answer to your question but it is not ridiculous. If you are in DMV, though, I doubt you are going back in six weeks. My federal office is talking August at the earliest.

Thanks. My federal office in DC, and my husband's private organization in MD, are both talking June. I'd prefer a later date, though.

[Anonymous]

We're digging into savings to do a nanny. This is one of the many reasons why, albeit one of the lowest on our worry list.

Baby will lose out on some socialization with other kids, but we would rather make that up by seeing a few trusted friends outdoors instead.

So no, not crazy to consider it. We have budgeted for a year and then will take it from there.

[Anonymous]

I do think it’s worthy of concern op, I completely understand what you’re saying and am having the same concerns for my toddler (though slightly different due to age) in considering whether we will have him return to daycare. Like others said of course this hasn’t been studied yet but we have studied that a language rich environment is very important to infants, but that’s not solely seeing lips move. In terms of bonding, I’m sure that there would still be much connection through eye contact, touch, meeting needs, etc. I’m personally starting to feel though like what already wasn’t the most ideal setting may become less ideal to the point where it’s worth it for us to use some savings on a nanny as well. And I was a happy daycare mom - dont get me wrong, because generally I don’t think babies/kids need IDEAL all the time and my kid did well and thrived there.

I will share as a mom a couple years into daycare, that one of my biggest concerns with going back is actually the disruption to our lives because I know how often our kid gets sick in daycare. It’s just a reality and before it was just something we got through and we knew it would happen at some point. But now I feel it will cause us all so much stress at each sniffle and be constantly having to keep him home, isolate from grandparents in the area as a precaution etc. So just something else to consider. I’m truly not saying don’t do it, but just sharing some of the things that are going through my head having done daycare. I would see what the daycares precautions are going to be, some aren’t actually wearing masks from what I heard for better or worse, due to these issues. It’s such a stressful time - hope you find a good next step for your family.

[Anonymous]

Op in this thread people are reporting no masks so I would check in before making decisions https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/879295.page

[Anonymous]

I don’t think that masks would have as much of an impact on language development as they would on social/emotional development. Blind children have normal language development. The issue lies in learning to match the facial expression to the emotion, which is more difficult but not impossiblewith a masked face. The eyes say a lot.

[Anonymous]

I think your concerns are worth considering, OP. As a PP mentioned, learning to infer others' thoughts and feelings partly depends on being able to observe their facial expressions. The eyes are the most important, but there are other important cues that come from the way the mouth and cheek muscles are moving. There is some fascinating research using eye tracking to investigate relationships between how babies look at peoples' faces and their social/emotional learning. For example, babies who go on to be diagnosed with autism often have abnormal eye movement patterns when looking at faces. Their brains do not seem to be wired to pay attention to the same facial features that neurotypical people do. It stands to reason that if a baby is not able to see half of their caregivers' faces during a critical developmental period, they may end up not paying as much attention to mouth movements as an important social cue. Of course, that alone probably isn't enough to have a clinically significant effect on social/emotional learning, especially if the other kids aren't wearing masks and if you aren't wearing masks at home.

The impact on speech development is also something to think about. Speech is not as clear from behind a mask. For example, the difference between p and b or c and t might not be heard. For someone who has already developed language, this isn't a big deal because they can use context clues. But for a baby who is still learning, this could have an impact. If you send the baby to daycare, you should prioritize mask-free, face-to-face social interaction during the times you are at home. For example, read a book and sing songs while facing the baby vs. having him or her in your lap. Try to reduce background noise when hanging out at home so that the baby hears your voice clearly. I am worried about masks because my child has hearing loss and will almost certainly have a harder time understanding people. If preschool is open, I will probably try to send him for less time than I was planning so that we can spend more time at home where he can hear us better and see our lips moving. I will still be working full-time but probably from home at least some of that time if not all. This situation has made me realize I can juggle work and kids more than I thought was possible, if I really have to.

[Anonymous]

I can't find the article right now but a psychologist was writing how children learn about emotions and cues from looking at their caretakers faces and how in the pandemic, parents should teach the child that even though the face is masked there could be a smiling face behind it. So yes, it will have an impact on the child's development I think.

[Anonymous]

Give me a breaj with the child development. You’re more cincerbd With this than getting a kid infected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give me a breaj with the child development. You’re more cincerbd With this than getting a kid infected

This is true. If the child gets infected, or ends up with this new deadly post-covid multi-system inflammatory syndrome, the months they missed seeing mouths is going to be completely irrelevant.

If you are an essential worker, or are called back into the office, you don’t have much of a choice. But for those who do, it’s definitely worth consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give me a breaj with the child development. You’re more cincerbd With this than getting a kid infected

Read the OP. It says in addition to the overall health concerns, not more importantly.

[Anonymous]

Mask those teachers or lock them up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't find the article right now but a psychologist was writing how children learn about emotions and cues from looking at their caretakers faces and how in the pandemic, parents should teach the child that even though the face is masked there could be a smiling face behind it. So yes, it will have an impact on the child's development I think.

What about countries where they wear burkas, face coverings year round?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't find the article right now but a psychologist was writing how children learn about emotions and cues from looking at their caretakers faces and how in the pandemic, parents should teach the child that even though the face is masked there could be a smiling face behind it. So yes, it will have an impact on the child's development I think.

What about countries where they wear burkas, face coverings year round?

In most cultures where women wear face coverings, they don’t wear them inside of the home when alone with family and the mothers seldom have jobs outside the home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mask those teachers or lock them up!

Mask those kids or keep them home!