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Impact of covid-19 on early years children - Coggle Diagram
Impact of covid-19 on early years children
Financial difficulties
Increased income insecurity, greater reliance on the benefit system, and weaker labour market attachment
Families have fallen into financial crisis/poverty - rapid increase in the number of people now on Universal credit
These stressors can impact on parents and increase parental anxiety
Challenges with increasing energy bills - fuel poverty
Mental health
Social isolation may have long term effects on mental health and wellbeing
Lack of private (and outdoor space) also impacted on family wellbeing - also housing inequality, families in small flats, not enough room for family members to spend time on their own
Covid-19 and lockdown having distinct impacts on the mental health of children and their families - communities with high levels of mental health problems in the adult population are likely to see these issues exacerbated, making the household context for children more challenging
Loss of social relationships and support networks
Potential for a rise in domestic violence and neglect - sudden loss of contact with teachers, doctors, social workers, youth workers and carers
Long term and enduring effects of lockdown on psychological wellbeing
General worsening of mental wellbeing (especially anxiety, loneliness and depression) - especially for those with pre-existing mental health problems, children living in poverty, and other disadvantaged groups (2)
Pandemic leading to extreme hardship for low income families, with some feeling excluded, hungry, guilty (for not providing food), fearful and stigmatised - young, single parents under significant pressure (2)
Parents experienced anxiety and were struggling to cope with their children during lockdown, with changes in children's emotions and behaviour widely reported (2)
Anxiety about the future, loss of sense of purpose and connection - profound social isolation during lockdown, which impacted negatively on their mental wellbeing and education (2)
34% of parents felt they had better relationships with their children than before lockdown for 5% relationships were worse (3)
Physical health
Reduced physical activity, increased screen time, irregular sleep patterns and increased risk of obesity (Wang et al, 2020)
Reduction in physical activity and worsened eating habits - although some reported an increase in time spent outdoors (2)
Consistent reported decline in young children's sleep, mood, behaviour, activity levels, eating behaviour and mental wellbeing - although some positive aspects, including an increase in imaginative and outdoor play (2)
Sleep - a third of parents reported a decline in the quality of their child's sleep compared with before lockdown - 6% said it was better
Mood- 47% said worse, 8% said better
Concentration - 40% said worse, 6% said better
Physical activity - 47% were less physically active, 24% were more
Eating - 32%'s eating behaviours were worse, 14% said it was better
Mental wellbeing - more children had a score indicating the presence of behavioural or emotional difficulties than in a survey before lockdown
Imaginative play - 42% said better, 12% said worse
Outdoor play - 45% spent more, 29% spent less
Sleep patterns - 26% said worse, 5% said they were a lot worse (3)
Imaginative play - 54% said better, 8% said worse (3)
Impact on education
Digital divide
Having to share devices
Cost of internet
implications of digital inequality on home schooling and educational attainment
Also inequality in internet access leads to difficulties in maintaining relationships and accessing support during lockdown
Disadvantaged children had a lack of digital access and associated problems in accessing services and benefits, connecting with others, participating in education and exercising their rights (2)
Low confidence of some parents in their intellectual ability to support their children's learning during lockdown
Significant disruption to children's normal routines - impacts on their wellbeing and ability to learn
Loss of education/exclusion (2)
Speech and Language skills (4)
Increased number of 4 and 5 year olds needing help with language
76% of schools said pupils starting school in September 2020 needed more support with communication than in previous years
96% said they were concerned about pupil's speech and language development
Other notes
Particularly challenging for children with additional support needs - also impacts on the diagnostic process
Vulnerable children (2)
Evidence from the NSPCC suggests that there had been an increase in child abuse and neglect since the start of the pandemic, including emotional abuse, physical abuse (e.g. infant abuse head trauma) exposure to domestic abuse and exploitation - as evidenced by an increase in counselling sessions, reports from services and hospitals and Europol data. (2)
Lack of access to green spaces - especially among low income families (3)