By Janis Gonzales, Santa Fe New Mexican, May 13, 2020
Over the past few weeks, pediatricians have been trying to raise awareness about the steep decline in vaccination rates that we have been seeing as parents cancel well checks and babies go months without being seen by a physician.
But there is an equally alarming problem, one that also goes unseen and has remained largely under the radar while the news focuses on the more sensational COVID-19 headlines. The changes that have occurred in the lives of young children have been vast, and we really have no idea what the long-term outcomes will be.
Children of all ages have been asked to adjust to a completely different way of schooling, while still being expected to advance academically and developmentally as if nothing had changed. For young children in particular, the social isolation and loss of the loving and calming presence of adults in their lives, including teachers, caregivers and grandparents, may have consequences we are only beginning to understand.
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