CAMERAS CAPTURE A COVID-HIT YEAR IN JUNIOR SCHOOL
MOST children living through the pandemic will have become more resilient, according to a leading child psychologist.
But Dr Malie Coyne has also seen an increase in referrals to her practice of youngsters experiencing increased social anxiety, obsessive cleanliness and nightmares related to the pandemic in recent months.
The parenting expert is featured in a new landmark Virgin Media series Big Year In Big School, which gives a fly-on-the-wall look at a class of junior infants who saw their first year at school abruptly halted in
March by the pandemic. Dr Coyne said: ‘In the weeks leading up to that, the kids were saying, “Did you hear there is a virus and it’s out there and it’s going to kill people”.
‘It was definitely in their conversations.
‘You could see a child saying to the teacher, Maria, “How bad is it and are people dying?” and she was kind of trying to downplay it.’ Big Year In Big
School is an intimate window into the ups, downs, tears, tantrums and triumphs that unfold in a diverse class of children at Aston Village Educate Together in Drogheda.
The five-part series also gives a unique glimpse into what it means and feels like to be a kid in Ireland in 2020.
‘It’s really unique in that you’re really seeing every part of that child’s development and following on personal stories of children and that is why it is so compelling,’ said Dr Coyne.
‘You follow their journey and inadvertently learn stuff about five-year-olds’ development. The little interactions between them are just so cute.
‘It’s the best project I’ve ever worked on by far because you really got to know the children.’
The landmark Virgin Media series shows children from a wide range of backgrounds in the Drogheda school.
The lecturer at NUI Galway said the mixed reaction of the youngsters to their unscheduled break in the school year due to Covid-19 is captured by the cameras.
She said: ‘Initially one or two kids were going “woo”, thinking they were happy to be off school. Then one child piped up and said, “But where are we going to go now?”, and it broke my heart.
‘For these kids, school was their lives. They were so used to being in there and had finally adapted.’
The child psychologist, whose book on anxiety in children – Love In Love Out – has just been published, believes children’s well-being during the pandemic was linked to the experience of their parents.
She said: ‘I think where parents have struggled, children have struggled and I think where parents haven’t struggled as much, kids haven’t struggled as much.
‘It’s never to blame parents. All of us adults had different situations.
‘Some of us were working, some of us weren’t, some of us had a sick relative, some of us didn’t, some of us were in the middle of a marital breakup, some of us weren’t.
‘It’s been hard for parents to do more than survive the last few months. If you’ve had a row with a child or managed things in not such a good way you can apologise to them.’
In general, the clinical psychologist has had referrals in her practice from children affected by the pandemic.
‘I am getting referrals of kids that have become more obsessive about cleanliness but can you blame them?
‘My book came out on anxiety two months ago but it was perfect timing.
‘(There has been) increased anxiety, social anxiety about going back to school and going back to socialising with other children and being obsessed with cleanliness and order.
‘I’ve had referrals of kids who’ve had nightmares about monsters and that’s more of a recent thing.
“There are also kids who have behavioural issues. Sometimes when young children are upset in themselves they either show that through having nightmares and bed-wetting but they could also be having a lot of tantrums.’
The psychologist said the children in Ireland who were most affected were in domestic violence or substance abuse situations in their homes.
Dr Coyne, a mother of two young girls aged nine and seven, believes one positive of the pandemic is life’s slower pace.
‘We also need to learn what parts of normal are not worth rushing back to. The world had gone absolutely crazy.
‘Parents were, through no fault of their own, both working, on phones all the time, it was busy, busy, busy.
‘I heard of one parent who brought their kid to three birthday parties on a Saturday. That’s because they feared their child would miss out.
‘I think one thing it has taught us over the past few months is they do not need all the stuff we thought they needed.
‘I think that maybe the last few months has taught us we need to slow down and we don’t need to go back to the craziness of life.’
■ Big Year In Big School starts at 9pm tonight on Virgin Media One
‘Interactions between them are just so cute’