Young children suffer little from the physical effects of COVID-19, but they feel the repercussions of the pandemic just as much, perhaps even more, than their parents, notes the Observatory of the very young (OTP) in a report published Tuesday.
Even if they are sometimes discreet, the little ones saw their parents worrying, and their mental health was sometimes put to the test during the pandemic, notes the Observatory in particular.
Anxiety symptoms, decreased attention span, disturbed sleep: before the pandemic, nearly 1,700 young Quebecers had anxiety-depressive disorders. In its report, the OTP raises the fear that, as elsewhere in the world, these disorders are on the increase among Quebec children.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, PRESS ARCHIVES
Fannie Dagenais, director of the Toddler Observatory
“Studies conducted here and internationally document that children are among those for whom mental health has deteriorated the most during the pandemic,” says Fannie Dagenais, director of the Observatory.
Whether it’s in their family or at daycare – the two places where little ones spend most of their day – stress has been felt in recent years.
“If they are already more vulnerable in terms of development or temperament, to see their parents sit down at 1 pm to listen to the Prime Minister, that can stress some children”, illustrates the DD Mutsuko Emond-Nakamura, child psychiatrist at CHU Sainte-Justine.
She notes that many children are “resilient”, but she adds that she nevertheless sees in her clinic “vulnerable children, who get caught up in anxiety”.
The DD Emond-Nakamura says she is “worried” about the long-term impacts not only of confinement, but also of the periods of uncertainty that the little ones have experienced, especially with daycare centers that sometimes opened and closed at short intervals.
And when the little ones are not doing well, those around them suffer the consequences, recalls Fannie Dagenais. “When we take care of a child who has behavioral problems, who does not sleep at night, the parents do not sleep very well either”, illustrates Mme Dagenais.
Not enough physical activity, too many screens
Beyond the pandemic, the Toddler Observatory is concerned in its portrait about the fact that 40% of children aged 3 to 5 do not do enough physical activity.
The time they spend staring at screens is also of concern. “Even parents who usually are able to supervise this exposure have had difficulty during the pandemic,” says Dr.D Mutsuko Emond-Nakamura, child psychiatrist at CHU Sainte-Justine, who, for example, saw young people who behaved aggressively because they had been too exposed to video games.
The Observatory’s report is published as part of the Great Week for Toddlers. In Quebec, there are 534,000 children aged 0 to 5.