What do young kids think about this pandemic? How much are they internalizing what is going on around them during this confusing time of school closures, physical distancing and constant healthcare discussions?
I find myself asking these questions while watching my three children play together in a way that appears to be unchanged from that of months previous. They have asked no big questions, voiced no concerns and yet, I feel certain there must be something there, lingering just below the surface. And so, I asked – just what do young kids know about a pandemic?
“It does worry me,” my four-year-old daughter, Sonja said when I asked if she had any coronavirus concerns. “Because my friends are maybe going to get it. And when it’s all done, and they still have it, and it’s a school day, I probably wouldn’t see them – the people that have that thing.”
Hearing her voice these fears, which are alarmingly accurate, gave me pause. After all, she is only four and I am not sure how much she understands about viruses in general. So, I asked her.
“It’s these flowing things you can’t see,” she said, describing the visual that will be forever etched in my mind – firmly attached as the graphic depiction of this time. “It’s a circle with lines coming out of the circle all around it.”
But while I am unsurprised that she – an immensely detail-oriented visual artist – could give me an accurate description of the virus itself, it was her description of what might happen if she were to become infected that gave me pause.
“I would be sick and you guys would have to put me out somewhere where I was safe,” she began. “And you guys couldn’t go near me.”
That is a sobering thought. But what is more distressing is her long-term outlook.
“I don’t really think it’s going to be over because it’s a big thing,” she predicted. “We can’t kill it and make it go away because we can’t see it, and we can’t see where it’s going all around the world. And we can’t see it if it’s inside us. So, we can’t kill it.”
Fortunately, most four-year-old children are not known for their accurate grasp of time and Sonja – who only recently discovered there is a difference between what happened yesterday and today and what will happen tomorrow – is no exception. And because of this, she sees a future that is simultaneously dark and frightening – full of invisible and indestructible germs – but also filled with the promise of wonderful things to come.
“I’m looking forward to everything I can’t do right now,” she asserted. “Going to Hawaii and camping and going in the pool. And when Grandma and Pappy come, I can hug them.”
While my interview with Sonja might be seen as a discouraging look at what children are dealing with right now, I like to look at it instead as a valuable tool. Because, while Sonja is apparently very aware of what is going on around her and even the possible dire consequences, she is moving forward and remaining positive just the same. She acknowledges that the present is scary and full of unknowns but that the future still holds the same possibilities and goodness as before. And really, isn’t that the key to moving forward?
