By Anya Kamenetz, Illustration Monica Garwood/The New York Times, The New York Times, August 22, 2022
A few years ago, people thought American kids had it way too easy.
Best-selling books and articles lamented “the coddling of the American mind” and shamed “snowplow parents” whoremoved every obstacle their children encountered. Parents were scolded, told that they should allow their kids to develop “grit” by giving them “the gift of failure.” (If a child leaves their term paper at home on the day it’s due, for example, parents shouldn’t drive it to school for them.)
This critique may have once hit home for a subset of children. Now, it’s toast.
During the pandemic, young people — especially, but not only, the most vulnerable — have experienced massive disruption. More than 200,000 American children, and counting, lost at least one parent to Covid. Young people in foster care, as well as those in juvenile detention centers, sometimes went an entire year without seeing their families in person. Children with special needs often regressed without therapies and interventions. And many kids suffered academically, from remote learning and missed class resulting from quarantines.
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