Nursery World - Health visitor advice: Addressing the negative effects of the pandemic

In this series of columns written by senior health visitors, Yvonne Douglas at Highland Health Visiting Team in Enfield, London talks about how to help children with pandemic-related delays in social skills

We are only now learning the impact of the pandemic on children’s emotional development.

A recent report from the IFS and UCL found that the instability of the labour market for parents (some of whom were furloughed or lost their jobs), school and nursery closures, lack of contact with friends and death and illness among families all set back children’s emotional development significantly.

Over half of parents of four- to seven-year-olds believed their child’s emotional and social development had worsened during the height of the pandemic.

Some health visitors were unable to do face-to-face two-year development reviews during the lockdowns, and those that were done took place over the phone or online.

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