Happiness in a time after lockdowns

125 Sathorn Celebrates International Happiness Week.

25th March @ 125 Sathorn Sales Gallery, Bangkok, THAILAND.

It's late afternoon in an unusual spot of greenery in Bangkok CBD. Laughter, shrieks and squeals come served with ice tea, Pierre Hermé macaroons and lots and lots of paint. We are celebrating International Happiness Week.

Quite honestly, a great way to celebrate happiness. Curious Kind Early Childhood Center was entertaining the children with a variety of activities from painting, water sensory tables to making your own artsy sand bottles. My toddler at this point had zero intention of participating. He had looked at all the painting activities with confusion but he eventually found a station that looked fun. The pouring and throwing of coloured sand. As well as staring and ogling the other toddlers and children getting creative.

This was the first time he had been around so many other children. Born during the COVID pandemic, he had spent much of his 20 months earth side playing with adults and was just fascinated by these other people who were of similar height. Watching him being apprehensive of the other children, it made me wonder how this pandemic will affect my baby in the long run? Will this permanently affect his personality? Will he always be uncomfortable playing along other children?

After a little research, I realised that all this concern and worry was just me. According to Seth Pollak, a psychologist and brain scientist who studies child development “There's really no indication that their social development is going to be impacted at all…until around age two, kids don't really play with other kids… They engage in what psychologists call parallel play”.

This made me happy. But what about those over two? According to an article in the National Geographic (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-pandemic-isolation-is-affecting-young-kids-developing-minds ) there have been some behavioral differences in comparison to pre-COVID toddlers with these “bunker babies”. The good news though is that once they’ve had some time to flex and practice their social skills, they’ll catch up. I’ve gleaned over some exceptions from the Nat Geo article but ultimately children are “flexible, equipped with brains that have great “plasticity”—the ability to adapt.”

Two months later, I’ve seen it for myself. My son is now attending nursery and he loves it. There was the initial resistance to join in and sit still during story time (like the article mentions) but after a few days, he was happy to explore and join the other kids. Daily updates from the nursery says he now sits during circle time and dances during song time. Despite the worry of him adjusting to nursery, there is just so much more stimulation and fun activities at nursery that in less than two weeks, he had acclimated. So for those mamas whose worried about your kids ability to be social after months and months of lockdowns, just remember, they are flexible, adaptable, and happy.

By Sarah