Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 16:49     Subject: pandemic babies
The kids aren't struggling because of covid; the kids are struggling because of the prevalence of smartphones and other tech.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 16:41     Subject: pandemic babies
The kids hitting Kindergarten next year would mostly be post pandemic babies. My kid was just 1 when COVID hit, while his toddler year was disrupted, he was back in care at 2 and basically not impacted at all by preschool. He's entering second grade next year. I can't see the pandemic closures impacting kids two years younger, they would have mostly missed it or been tiny babies.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 16:34     Subject: pandemic babies
Lots of speech problems, learned helpness and tantrums with this years group. Also hearing the word throughs them into a fit. Lots of issues w/super short attention spans.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 15:08     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, as someone with two pandemic babies (a 2020 and a 2021) I think the pandemic was hard on PARENTS with babies, but not really bad for the kids. I mean, someone was changing their diapers and feeding them milk and all that jazz, and they were too young for excessive screens.

From talking to teachers at various levels, the hardest hit roughly in order from worst to best were 1) the kids in K/1st, as doing those grades online is impossible and they missed crucial reading skills 2) middle schoolers, who missed crucial socializing and basically arrived to high school with the maturity of 5th graders and 3) the toddlers (ages 2-3) who spent WAY more time on screens then they would have otherwise.

So those kids are now in middle school, early college, and like 3/4th grade.


100% this. I have two of those. I have a middle schooler who is dyslexic and needed a lot of tutoring to get back up to grade level after learning absolutely nothing in the end of 1st and almost all of 2nd grade. I also have a 4th grader and we don't regret sending her to preschool in 2020 as soon as it opened back up. She got the socialization that she needed with minimal screen time and I can absolutely tell the difference between her and some of her peers that were home that whole time (not all of them, but some of them are still quite feral).
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:58     Subject: pandemic babies
Agree with PP. Mine had just turned 4. I was able to work from home with by allowing excessive screens. I think that combined with my burnout led to more screen use in general, and to this day it’s still a fight with that kid to not be on screens. I am not proud, but that’s the reality.

With a baby, I would’ve needed to just quit or maybe move in with relatives.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:49     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, as someone with two pandemic babies (a 2020 and a 2021) I think the pandemic was hard on PARENTS with babies, but not really bad for the kids. I mean, someone was changing their diapers and feeding them milk and all that jazz, and they were too young for excessive screens.

From talking to teachers at various levels, the hardest hit roughly in order from worst to best were 1) the kids in K/1st, as doing those grades online is impossible and they missed crucial reading skills 2) middle schoolers, who missed crucial socializing and basically arrived to high school with the maturity of 5th graders and 3) the toddlers (ages 2-3) who spent WAY more time on screens then they would have otherwise.

So those kids are now in middle school, early college, and like 3/4th grade.


Agreed. This is the generation of parents that learned that absolutely no one cares.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:40     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, as someone with two pandemic babies (a 2020 and a 2021) I think the pandemic was hard on PARENTS with babies, but not really bad for the kids. I mean, someone was changing their diapers and feeding them milk and all that jazz, and they were too young for excessive screens.

From talking to teachers at various levels, the hardest hit roughly in order from worst to best were 1) the kids in K/1st, as doing those grades online is impossible and they missed crucial reading skills 2) middle schoolers, who missed crucial socializing and basically arrived to high school with the maturity of 5th graders and 3) the toddlers (ages 2-3) who spent WAY more time on screens then they would have otherwise.

So those kids are now in middle school, early college, and like 3/4th grade.


This is spot-on.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:38     Subject: pandemic babies
Current K was born in 2019-2020, entering K was born 2020-2021. I don’t think either group was as affected by Covid as the kids a year or two older (and of course, older than that). They seemed to have missed most of the “mask and closure” era due to being just too young to have to worry about it, but if they needed special education services in early childhood, they were able to get at least a year and possibly/probably 2-3 years.

K is pretty well behaved at my kids’ school but 1st has some issues.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:37     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:Is the class entering kindergarten still going to have issues with behavior and Potty training becuase of COVID? I know most kids are still straggling even though it was a few years ago.


My kid is going to Kinder next year. She was born in 2021. She was potty training in 2023 - long after the pandemic was over. This isn't the cohort for that kind of problem.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:35     Subject: pandemic babies
Honestly, as someone with two pandemic babies (a 2020 and a 2021) I think the pandemic was hard on PARENTS with babies, but not really bad for the kids. I mean, someone was changing their diapers and feeding them milk and all that jazz, and they were too young for excessive screens.

From talking to teachers at various levels, the hardest hit roughly in order from worst to best were 1) the kids in K/1st, as doing those grades online is impossible and they missed crucial reading skills 2) middle schoolers, who missed crucial socializing and basically arrived to high school with the maturity of 5th graders and 3) the toddlers (ages 2-3) who spent WAY more time on screens then they would have otherwise.

So those kids are now in middle school, early college, and like 3/4th grade.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 14:12     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The 25-26 school year had the first round of COVID babies, and this didn’t seem to be an issue. If anything, our Kindergarten team reported that this year’s class was more talkative and social than they’d seen in recent memory.


I think actually having parents at home during their formative years, and not having to go to daycare until they were 3+ has made a real difference in the pandemic babies. It's too bad there aren't more part time wfh jobs.


My students were babied big time. So much learned helplessness.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 13:46     Subject: pandemic babies
Anonymous wrote:The 25-26 school year had the first round of COVID babies, and this didn’t seem to be an issue. If anything, our Kindergarten team reported that this year’s class was more talkative and social than they’d seen in recent memory.


I think actually having parents at home during their formative years, and not having to go to daycare until they were 3+ has made a real difference in the pandemic babies. It's too bad there aren't more part time wfh jobs.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 13:45     Subject: pandemic babies
I imagine the current cohort of kids have no memory of the pandemic and that most were able to attend pre-k if they wanted to and that we really shouldn't see those kinds of delays anymore.
On the other hand, my rising 4th grader was 3 at the start of the pandemic, and has no memory of it other than what we talk about. But my dc's cohort did have their pre-k years affected, which in turn affects k-2 years
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 13:37     Subject: pandemic babies
The 25-26 school year had the first round of COVID babies, and this didn’t seem to be an issue. If anything, our Kindergarten team reported that this year’s class was more talkative and social than they’d seen in recent memory.
Anonymous
Post 06/15/2026 13:21     Subject: pandemic babies
Is the class entering kindergarten still going to have issues with behavior and Potty training becuase of COVID? I know most kids are still straggling even though it was a few years ago.