It is hard to get our heads around the fact that we are now in the third year of the relentless storm of the global pandemic. This tumultuous time has impacted every aspect of our lives— especially the mental health and well-being of our children. You do not need to open a newspaper or check your newsfeed to see the implications of the stress, uncertainty, disruption, isolation, trauma, and loss—you just need to walk into your own classroom. Long before the pandemic and social and global unrest, we were seeing a dramatic rise in children’s stress, anxiety, and dysregulated behavior. These two years have exacerbated that situation exponentially resulting in late last year the American Academy of Pediatrics; the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; the Children’s Hospital Association; and the U.S. Surgeon General all declaring a national state of emergency on children’s mental health.

Our youngest learners have lived most of their lives during a time of disorder, uncertainty and unpredictability; not surprisingly, it has taken a toll. We don’t know what the long-term impacts will be, but we do know what we see in front of us in our classrooms every day. A study by Yale University’s Walter Gilliam, Ph.D., has shown that 56 percent of pre-K teachers reported children being more aggressive, hyperactive, and oppositional, while 55 percent noticed their children were exhibiting more shy, withdrawn, and anxious behaviors than observed before. Of course, parents see this, too, and they are more concerned than ever about their children’s social and emotional well-being.