One Day You'll Thank Me: NZ paediatrician on Covid's impact on children

"Children thrive when they have rhythm, when things are predictable, when things are stable," says paediatrician Dr Jin Russell. "And they've experienced quite a lot of disruption, and that can have impacts on their sense of stability and their wellbeing." Photo / Getty Images

Welcome to the Herald's parenting podcast: One Day You'll Thank Me. Join parents and hosts Jenni Mortimer and Rebecca Blithe as they navigate the challenges and triumphs of parenting today with help from experts and well-known mums and dads from across Aotearoa.

For New Zealanders who made their way through the Covid pandemic with kids in tow, it was an unprecedented time of pressure-cooker parenting as mums and dads tried to juggle work and kids at home for months on end.

And while it feels like the country is slowly returning to normality, Covid is still in our communities, the long-term impacts of the pandemic still felt by everybody, including our little ones.

On today's episode of the Herald's parenting podcast, One Day You'll Thank Me, New Zealand developmental paediatrician and mum-of-two Dr Jin Russell explains the impact of Covid-19 and lockdowns on our kids. She shares how to help them navigate their way back to daycare, school and routines, while taking what we have learnt about wellness from the pandemic with us.

For Russell, who has two sons, aged 7 and 5, it became quickly apparent that "children were going to be really affected by the pandemic itself", says the Auckland-based doctor, who is also studying a PhD in the field of life course epidemiology.

She notes while, physically, most kids who did contract Covid-19 recovered well, the impact of school and daycare closures, bouts of isolation, not being able to access playgrounds, see friends or sometimes family members may have the most lingering effects.

"All of those things have been really important parts of children's experiences during the pandemic. I think that now, we're starting to learn how to live with Covid, we need to pay attention to these things."

ODYTM hosts Jenni Mortimer and Rebecca Blithe have both seen their sons struggle with the disruption of being in and out of daycare.

For Mortimer's son, Knox, 3, she says it was like starting at day one each time he went back, while Blithe shares that she was told daycare wasn't working for her son, Hart, 2, and was advised to look at in-home care options.

"We felt both let down by and grateful to the daycare for acknowledging that he wasn't coping. And also worried about what it might suggest about his ability to adapt to similar settings like school in the future," shared Blithe.

Russell said it took her son, who had just started school when the first lockdown hit, a whole term to feel comfortable about being back in a classroom.

"We were there at the school gate every morning with him in tears … but what really helps is creating a routine for your child where, it's not that you put their anxieties aside, it's about acknowledging this is a big deal but it's really important and we know that you can do it. So, conveying confidence in your child."

Russell says there are also concerns that "particularly for families in Tāmaki Makaurau" lockdowns have affected young children's school readiness skills, while "learning gaps" are a concern for older kids.

"For most children these gaps can be overcome, but it requires support from parents ... and teachers. Older students need to put in a lot of work to catch up. And that can be stressful, so we need to be mindful of that and pay attention to their mental health and emotional wellbeing."

When it comes to getting back into activities and socialising, Russell says these things are important and advises being "prepared but not anxious".

"What I mean by that is there are simple things that we can do to try and reduce our risks. So, vaccination, which is really safe and really does prevent children from getting rare side-effects. Keep wearing masks when we're outside and in crowded places.

" … for things we don't want kids to miss out on, like birthday parties and indoor activities, we can actually really lower the risks [of spreading Covid and other viruses] by opening windows a little bit during winter and doors in summer to keep fresh air moving in and out. That really does reduce the risk for everyone in the space."

Russell shares ultimately it's now important for kids to start getting back into their normal routines, "to give them a sense of normality".

"Children thrive when they have rhythm, when things are predictable, when things are stable. And they've experienced quite a lot of disruption, and that can have impacts on their sense of stability and their wellbeing."

• For more tips, listen to today's episode of One Day You'll Thank Me below.

• You can follow the podcast at nzherald.co.nz, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.