Academic, social impacts of the pandemic on children may be felt for decades, Hamilton doctor says

The return of in-person learning in Ontario this week is bringing some sense of relief to Yara Soliman and other parents.  

Soliman said her six-year-old daughter Khadija, a senior kindergarten student in Hamilton, has struggled with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Last year was her first year in school and, of course, with lots of shifting between online learning and in-person … it was very hard for her, especially by the end of the year, she [started] to experience anger management issues." 

Soliman said her daughter's mental health worsened toward the end of the school year. It got better when she started interacting with other kids again, but even that was a difficult transition.

"She was quiet at first … and that was not her. Before, she would always engage, she would go up to anyone, but [during lockdown] she spent two or three months without interacting with anybody else."

The academic and social impacts of the pandemic on children may be felt for decades, says Dr. Khrista Boylan, a Hamilton-based child and adolescent psychiatrist. 

She was among Hamilton doctors at a virtual event Wednesday called Let Kids be Kids, a discussion on children's mental health during the pandemic and the benefits of schools reopening.

"There's that isolation card, but there's also all the other skills that not being in school hampers — the loss of ability to access both their peers as well as other caring adults and support to the community that they would otherwise be able to access if they were not isolated at home or not in school," Boylan said.

Few family members nearby can be isolating, mom says

That kind of interaction is important for Soliman's daughter.

Soliman came to Canada with her husband from Egypt, and is now a McMaster University PhD candidate and her husband works full time as an engineer.

Soliman said the lack of familial support has made it extra difficult to support her daughter. 

"It's only me and my husband [here] so there's no family to interact with and most of our friends don't live close to us," she said.

"[My daughter's] main social interactions are in school … and sometimes we are not able to manage her during her school time… we don't have the flexibility to spend time with her or make her activities so she can be engaged in something rather than just staying at home watching TV or playing by herself."

If you have kids that don't want to go outside or that they were fearful of being around or meeting new people, that would be a sign that they're not coping.- Dr. Khrista Boylan, Hamilton psychiatrist 

Boylan said Wednesday's panel aimed to discuss why children should be a priority in policymaking decisions. 

The event was "designed to get some airtime to the issue of putting kids first in the midst of pandemic discussions about what's the right thing to do with respect to keeping schools open," she said. 

Another panel participant, Dr. Martha Fulford from McMaster University, went so far as to say kids should not only be in school, but also be allowed to hug grandparents, go unmasked and partake in extracurricular activities.

Fulford said she doubts the effectiveness of having all children vaccinated in order to lessen the spread of COVID-19.

Provincial and local public health departments recommend children over five be vaccinated, however. 

Return to school causing mixed reactions

Research published in July by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto shows between 50 and 70 per cent of Ontario children and adolescents reported symptoms of depression during COVID-19's second wave.

But despite the challenges isolation brings, not all parents are keen on seeing their kids return to classrooms.

With the Omicron variant in particular, more kids are being hospitalized, as CBC has reported, something likely tied to the fast spread of the variant. Some doctors are concerned about the impact on children with respiratory issues.

Amber Cowan-Flammini shares that concern. She has been isolated since March 2020 with her family because her youngest daughter, Stella, is immuno-compromised. 

Now seven years old, Stella got a syncytial virus at three weeks old that has put her at a high risk of complications from respiratory viruses.

In September 2020, as other children returned to class, Cowan-Flammini's family made the decision to stay with remote learning, pushing her to leave her job. She said although she feels lucky to be in a position where that's something she can do, isolation has not come without its struggles.

"The last two years have really been the hardest two years of my life. I think it's been fairly traumatic for the children. My 10-year-old [Olivia] is very anxious now and … she's situationally depressed because she's ready to be with other people and she's feeling angry that she can't … and now it is starting to hit my seven-year-old," she says. 

However, she said she is firm in her opinion that this is not a good time for kids to go back to classrooms.

"I don't think children should be going back to school right now unless situationally they are in a position where it's not as safe for them to be home."

Cowan-Flammini also said the responsibility of the mental health of children starts with parents.

"I realize my children are going to be having a bit of a hard time adjusting," she said. "I recognize that there's a likelihood that they're going to struggle with this, so I've asked [a friend who is a psychiatrist] to help me find out who might be good therapists in the area so we can pre-emptively set up some sessions … We need to consider their mental health, and we need to plan for it to be awful."

Recommendations for parents

Boylan has these recommendations for parents who believe their children may be struggling: 

• Pay attention to isolation patterns: "The main thing would be if the child is isolating further from the family and loved ones … not wanting to be around others, spending a lot of time on their devices and avoiding social contact is a bad sign."
• Look out for lack of interest: "If you have kids that don't want to go outside or that they were fearful of being around or meeting new people, that would be a sign that they're not coping."
• Take time to talk: "Being attentive and creating time for the child that cannot be understated."
• Check in regularly: Talk to kids to "ask them if they've been feeling sad or hopeless."
• Show interest: "The pandemic [is] incredibly stressful on families, so a lot of kids are keeping this stuff to themselves out of fear of burdening their parents. I would suggest the parents should look interested" when talking to their kids.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions: "Ask if they've ever been worried, thinking that their lives are not worth living any more because if kids say 'yes' to that question, that's an immediate seeking-of-professional-help kind of question, and it doesn't always mean that a child is at risk of ending their life."

If you need help, talk to your family doctor.

In the Hamilton area, visit hamilton.ca/CYmentalhealth for resources or call Hamilton at 905-570-8888. You can also call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or the Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566.