BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — This year has been a year without playdates for many young children which is leaving parents to wonder how that will affect their development.
Maren Shearer is about to turn 1 years old and because of the pandemic, she's never really interacted with other kids. This left her dad, WBZ's Matt Shearer worrying about how that will affect her development.
He says he can't be the only parent wondering this, so he called Dr. Carol Weitzman of Boston Children's Hospital.
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"Little babies and toddlers really do not have a need to have that kind of social experiences," Weitzman said.
That's good news says Shearer, but according to Weitzman, the real threat to early childhood development in quarantine is their parent's mental health.
"If parents are completely stressed, they become less emotionally available and less responsive to children," Weitzman said.
She adds if parents aren't happy or functioning well, then often times, neither are their kids. Weitzman encourages parents to take a deep breath because their baby needs it.
WBZ NewsRadio's Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) reports
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