The View from the Hermitage, Day 349

I read this morning that child mental health is a growing concern in Germany. One in three kids is suffering from pandemic-related anxiety or depression or is exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms such as headaches or stomach aches. Reading that took me back thirty years to when Son #1 was three and in preschool. The preceding summer of 1990 had seen Iraq under Saddam Hussein invade Kuwait. Early in 1991, what had begun in August as Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm with the start of offensive action by the US and allies. 

We have always let our kids watch, listen to, or read news reports. Even at the age of three, Son #1 knew that one country had invaded another country and our country was helping to defend the invaded country and, as Desert Storm began, to fight back to kick the invading country out. Several other parents took issue with the fact Son #1 had been briefing the other kids on troop movements, drawing a diagram to show them a flanking movement. No other kids even knew a "war" albeit a minor one was happening.

I wonder, even with the 20/20 hindsight, how we might have explained the pandemic to a three-year-old Son #1. The Professor said he had no idea, so I asked Son #1 what he thought about how to explain the pandemic to a three-year-old. He said that kids that young did have experience with illness. "You can't go to preschool today; you're running a fever." "You have a cold." Some illnesses are worse than others, and there are ways to protect yourself and others from those illnesses, such as wearing masks or not hugging. (He had two Japanese kids in his kindergarten class who did wear masks to school from time to time.) 

Of course, knowing Son #1 so well, he would have also taken in such things as spike proteins and mRNA vaccines and, yeah, it's a good thing his preschool would have closed down because I would have been in such trouble with the other parents. 

Once again, I am glad my children made it to adulthood and out on their own.