Effects of Covid-19 on Children's Development

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Current Events and Childhood Paper
Delaney Cook
Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Georgia
HDFS 4080: Advanced Child Development
Dr. Kelsea Koss
October 28, 2021

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Current Events and Childhood Paper
The past year and a half has been a time of uncertainty and change. Covid-19 has forever
transformed our world. This time has affected so many people in different ways, but it has
especially affected children and their cognitive, physical, and social development. Covid has
slightly shifted the normal development of children. Schools and day cares being closed along
with children not being able to interact with other children, and masks having to be worn.
Development along with this world is having to create a new “normal”.
Physical and Social Development
There are broad stages of development that children go through and have primary tasks in
each, but every child develops at a different pace. However, they all follow along the same lines.
Covid has affected the lives of so many kids and their fundamental processes of development.
Covid has caused huge developmental changes and delays in children. This will have long term
effects on the upcoming generation. The largest changes are seen in physical development and
social environments.
Physical Development
Physical development consists of things like height, weight, fine and gross motor. Height
has not seemed to be affected so far, but obesity rates have sharply increased in children. They
are stuck inside looking at their phones or computers all day, “Of note, during the pandemic,
prevalence of physically inactive students extensively increased from 21.3% to 65.6%. Screen
time considerably increased during the pandemic in total” (Xiang, 2020). Kids are staying inside
and eating snacks and food with no physical activity. Fine and gross motor development can be
emphasized more at home. If the parents are dedicated to spending a little time each day working
with their child on crawling, walking, playing sport, playing outside, picking up blocks, and

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using the pincher grasp, it can be very beneficial to the child. Children should learn these things
by being in dare care or working with someone, but it has not interfered too bad with the natural
process of development.
Social Development
A child’s social environment is important for social development and personal growth.
“Social interaction is how a child learns social cues, social skills, the idea of sharing and caring.
children’s peer interactions have been altered. Peer interactions help children learn from each
other to develop their understanding of conversation, emotion, and group norms” (Cameron &
Tenenbaum, 2021). With schools closing and day cares being paused, children were forced to
turn to technology for their way of learning and socializing. “Peer interaction also created a
chance for children to socially understand conversations without causing an offense, preventing
faux pas” (Cameron & Tenenbaum, 2021). The generation being raised during the pandemic is
going to be a generation of social awkwardness and rude people because “Children who were
rejected by peers were more likely than other children to have a poorer understanding of faux pas
curtailing peer interactions that could decrease children’s opportunities to develop emotional
understanding and social competence. Lack of emotional understanding could lead to decreases
in wellbeing, social interactions, and self-esteem” (Cameron & Tenenbaum, 2021). Lack of
emotional understanding decreases in wellbeing, social interactions, and self-esteem are all
causes of mental health problems.
Conclusion
Physical and social development is extremely important for children. It provides kids
with a solid foundation when moving onto bigger tasks. A child cannot succeed in more complex
functions without first learning how to do the basics. Covid-19 has made it harder for kids to

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experience life and the natural presence of developmental tasks and stages. The lack of social
development in children is going to truly affect the interactions of people and the world in the
generation to come.
Domains
Executive function and brain development, emotional development, and physical/health
development are having to be molded to fit into this new world we live in. Brain development is
still being studied by scientists while still not knowing the full extent on the damage covid could
do. Mental health and emotional regulation has sharply increased causing kids to experience
higher rates of depression among other things. Physical health is one of the largest categories
being affected by covid; kids are physically inactive leading to more and more obese children
causing all kinds of side affect health problems.
Brain Development
Synaptic pruning is a natural system in the brain where one’s brain is full on synapses
that slowly go away over time when they are not used. The brain is finetuning the synapses in
your brain to be more efficient. Scientists and doctors do not yet know how Covid-19 will affect
children’s brains long term. “SARS-CoV-2 infection impact mechanisms of neural development
such as synaptic pruning and neural circuitry formation. The present review discusses those
conditions in the perspective of the understanding of risk factors that should be considered and
the possible emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders in COVID-19-infected children”
(Chagas, 2021). The best way for children to fight back against this is to exercise and learn new
information. Playing video games every day is not going to improve synaptic pruning. Kids need
to be studying, reading, exploring. Covid-19 can possibly affect the way children’s brains
develop causing neural issues. Synaptic pruning is so important to help the brain be more

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efficient as you age. If the brain is not able to prune the synapses, it can cause learning
difficulties.
Emotion and self-regulation
Mental Health has been strained and tested throughout the pandemic. Suicide and
depression rates are way higher than before covid especially for kids who were having to stay at
home with a bad homelife. Children are going through a critical period. “Some groups may be
more vulnerable than others to the psychosocial effects of pandemics. Because they are in a
critical period of development, children and adolescents deserve special care to preserve and
promote their mental health” (Miranda, 2020). These kids are affected by the smallest incidents
and may experience abandonment or fighting in the home. When parents fight constantly or are
abusing to their children, they are going to have mental health problems. Marriage conflict can
lead to depression which can lead to substance abuse which can lead to poor sleep, obesity, and
death. The best way for parents to help their kids is to understand what is going on. They need to
try talking to their kids and being understanding of their circumstances while also not fighting in
the home when the kids can hear. Kids are vulnerable at this state; it takes knowing and
understanding and caring about the problem to start heading in the right direction of making it
better.
Physical Health and development
During the pandemic, children were forced to stay home which caused a domino effect.
By children having to stay home, they are most likely eating junk food or ordering from apps like
uber eats. Along with this, some kids do not have a home where they can go run around and get
exercise in causing them to sit inside all day with no physical movement. Lastly, not being in
school does not allow kids to play with other students or work with their teachers on fine and

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gross motor movements. There are many ways that parents today can keep their children from
experiencing even more health problems down the road. “Families that are more homebound due
to social distancing or lockdown measures, working more from home, and reduced preschool and
school attendance of their children may put more attention to the choice of foods and drinks and
replace canteen and processed food by more home-cooked foods, particularly in more privileged
families with higher education and income levels” (Koletzko, 2021). Parents can buy and make
healthier foods while getting their children outside to run around and play. Obesity is a big
problem in today’s world that needs to be talked about more. Obesity alone is a health problem,
but it also causes many other health problems.
Conclusion
Covid-19 is limiting every kind of development a child must overcome. It is making it
harder for kids to learn, grow, be healthy. The only thing the world can do now is learn to form
to the new changes and adapt a new sense of development.

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References
Cameron, L., & Tenenbaum, H. R. (2021). Lessons from developmental science to mitigate the
effects of the COVID-19 restrictions on social development. Group Processes &
Intergroup Relations, 24(2), 231–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220984236
da Silva Chagas, L., Sandre, P. C., de Velasco, P. C., Marcondes, H., Ribeiro e Ribeiro, N. C.,
Barreto, A. L., Alves Mauro, L. B., Ferreira, J. H., & Serfaty, C. A. (2021).
Neuroinflammation and brain development: Possible risk factors in COVID-19-infected
children. Neuroimmunomodulation, 28(1), 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000512815
Koletzko, B., Holzapfel, C., Schneider, U., & Hauner, H. (2021). Lifestyle and body weight
consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in children: Increasing disparity. Annals of
Nutrition and Metabolism, 77(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1159/000514186
Marques de Miranda, D., da Silva Athanasio, B., Sena Oliveira, A. C., & Simoes-e-Silva, A. C.
(2020). How is covid-19 pandemic impacting mental health of children and adolescents?
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101845
Xiang, M., Zhang, Z., & Kuwahara, K. (2020). Impact of covid-19 pandemic on children and
adolescents' lifestyle behavior larger than expected. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases,
63(4), 531–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2020.04.013