I don’t want to post a spoiler, so I will just abstractly say that I like the concept that children will remember this completely differently than adults do. For my little children, it’s interesting and different to be sheltering in place. It’s annoying they can’t go to the local park, but they don’t have anything near the stress and worry that adults do.
I'm with the other poster. Child experience and their memories will vary greatly (mainly around socioeconomic status).
I can't help but be afraid this will only bake in the inequality already present.
For my kids, this means more enrichment time, more time spent outside exploring the woods and streams around our home, and generally more quality creative time.
For the family down the street, this means more time in an abusive/shitty situation, less food, and more instability in the present and near future.
I feel like this is going to have a real, lasting impact on inequality, and not in a good way.
As an example; my grandfather talks about the great depression. He always says it wasn't that bad. But his family were already dirt-poor subsistence farmers. So for them, it was just less noise from other people. They had food, they had water, they had livestock.
But for my grandmother, who lived in town and was the daughter of a banker, the experience was very, very different.
And you could tell by the way they acted. Grandpa was free to give out food/money to anyone who he thought had a need. Grandma hid silver and various other valuables in floorboards and in wall-slats.
I can't help but feel like this is going to have a similar outcome for many people.
Society-wide, though, the Great Depression led to the New Deal, which radically reduced inequality, created our first social safety net, and set the stage for decades of public policy whose net effect was to reduce inequality. Hopefully we will see another silver lining with such lasting impact on society.
I don't know enough about it to infer anything. Is there anyone reading this thread that can speak to political leadership and social will today compared to immediately before the New Deal?
My take is that we're at a place in politics where any positive change is very unlikely. Maybe I'm wrong.
When I was growing up, my country got engulfed into a pretty rough war. We went through air raids, bombings, artillery strikes, and a bunch of people died. I'm sure all the adults were freaking out and just spent all the day thinking how best to survive. My city wasn't hit that hard, but we still had some rough moments.
However, during the was I was young enough to not understand the seriousness of the situation. I liked Rambo movies, and for me running to a shelter, while the air raid sirens were blasting, was just an incredibly exciting experience. I had absolutely zero fear, and didn't truly understand why were my parents freaking out.
I think it depends on a few factors. For a lot of children in poverty (already experiencing food insecurity before their family lost more resources) or with abusive family it will be remembered significantly worse.
For me personally, as an adult, I work in an essential industry and spend every waking hour at work pretty much so life hasn't really changed at all and my level of stress hasn't increased in any meaningful way.
Agree. The opposite(adult version ) is a very first world perspective. I grew up in the developing world and in my short stay there, I remember so many more traumatic events than covid SIP..which..honestly..feels like an extended holiday...what with Netflix and zoom and home deliveries.
I am also painfully..albeit with a giggle..aware that I am probably channeling Monty Python and their Four Yorkshiremen skit.
