“…Pediatricians and prominent medicine professors, such as Dr. Marty Makarty of Johns Hopkins University, have argued that children are extremely low-risk transmission-wise and can be psychologically harmed. As Makarty and H. Cody Meissner, a professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and a former Food and Drug Administration employee, wrote in The Wall Street Journal:

‘The possible psychological harm of widespread masking is an even greater worry. Facial expressions are integral to human connection, particularly for young children, who are only learning how to signal fear, confusion, and happiness. Covering a child’s face mutes these nonverbal forms of communication and can result in robotic and emotionless interactions, anxiety and depression. Seeing people speak is a building block of phonetic development. It is especially important for children with disabilities such as hearing impairment.'”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/still-defying-governor-austin-schools-implore-kids-to-double-mask

I forgot to mention the part about how it’s important to see people speak for a child’s phonetic development. But that’s an excellent point as well.

Children need to learn to recognize people’s faces. They need to be able to recognize facial expressions. It’s just basic childhood development. And they can’t pick up on those non-verbal cues if people are wearing masks. I’ve read that these children may end up with an IQ 20 to 25 points lower than if their development hadn’t been deliberately sabotaged.

Pain all around.

Should say that I keep an eye on the grandkids’ (fourth grade and eighth grade) education. Satisfied. Talking to the older about the constitution and BoR. I said, don’t you think the Third is kind of…not connected? Have you heard of the Quartering Acts? She had. Color me surprised. Knew all about them. Sort of a proof against the Founders as selfish, ungrateful greedheads who hadn’t wanted to pay for the Brits’ protection. Eighth grade….not expecting that.
Their math is good.
Last year, the family set up a learning pod for half a dozen middle school kids–extra tables and chairs, electrical outlets, hired a tech-savvy young lady to keep things on task. Worked for a while until it got blown up by a false positive test.

Kids seem socially okay. The softball leagues haven’t taken any time off, nor have the volleyball teams.

As my fourth grader–hot shot pitcher–said of her good friend and catcher, “Me and Cam carry this team!”. Thought about the grammar but kept my peace.

Thing is, it takes effort on the parents’ part. And on the part of their friends’ parents.

Mark Steyn wittily sums up that whole ghastly mess at https://www.steynonline.com/12011/america-sticks-out-its-tush

Two striking quotes from Steyn’s article:

” In 2004, shortly before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made a similar observation about the future of Europe:

‘There is a strange lack of desire for a future…'”

and

“To come back to where we came in – the dearth of children in the remnants of Christendom – ex-Pope Benedict observed a decade and a half ago:

” Children, who are the future, are seen as a threat for the present; the idea is that they take something away from our life. They are not felt as a hope, but rather as a limitation of the present.””

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog. As you probably noticed I haven’t written much lately but maybe I will start again.

In general I think we place too much importance on the influence of schools on the development of our kids. I tend to think the schools follow the culture more than drive it. I’ve got a couple of kids (now grown) and their formal education has had very little influence on their development (and since they spent many years in the public schools of Prince George’s County, MD, this is a good thing.

A child will spend about 10 percent of their waking hours from birth until they reach 18 being instructed in school. I think what they do in the remaining 90 percent is much more important to their development.