The Double Whammy! Pandemic Babies and the Child Care Crisis
The early childhood field is in crisis. Learning centers and preschools are struggling to find and retain quality educators and support staff amidst a time where young children and their parents are in desperate need for a support system that has been profoundly disrupted by the pandemic.
“Pandemic Babies” is a term that has become more prevalent in the early childhood field. The term describes young children under the age of three who have only known a world in the grip of a pandemic and who have had little to no opportunities to interact with other children.
While the research is limited, a study conducted by authors from Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University indicates that the environmental changes associated with the pandemic are significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development where reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance have been observed. These observations have also been made by many of my colleagues and myself as the number of young children entering our programs that share many of these concerns are staggering.
Once again, this confirms that social/emotional development is of vital importance to a child’s long-term health, development, and well-being. As early childhood educators, we know that development takes place at an extraordinary rate in the first years of a child’s life. We also know that this development depends on the experiences that stimulate a baby’s brain. Quality, early childhood programs provide a stimulating, varied, and responsive environment that supports the development of language, cognition, and emotional and social competencies with the support of educators who observe, interact, and scaffold children and their learning.
With more and more pandemic babies entering our programs, how can we help them overcome these newly identified challenges in a time where we are all in survival mode? How can we adequately observe, identify, and provide the necessary, individualized support and accommodations to each child when we are barely getting by with limited teachers, aides, and staff who are on the verge of burnout and need support themselves? If our childcare providers cannot provide for their families, they will be forced to leave the field as so many already have. Those that remain, are working with added stress because their incomes put them at or below poverty levels.
Without question, childcare and preschool are also crucial to many families’ economic security. They are integral pillars supporting America’s economy. Now is the time for Congress to address America’s childcare crisis once and for all with a significant investment in our early education system to ensure that every family who needs it can access care, support, and services for their child, that early educators receive fair compensation for the critical work they do, and for programs to continue operating. Our pandemic babies need and deserve an opportunity to thrive. Early childhood programs and educators are that opportunity.
By: Barbie Perdomo