NASHIK: The pandemic has not been anything less than a roller coaster ride for each one of us. From online schooling to work from home, our lifestyles witnessed a massive change in the past year. Just as we all were slowly transforming ourselves to get back into our old routine, the graph of cases started rising again.
All the age groups have been affected in some or the other way. Speaking about children, their lifestyles witnessed a drastic change. From schooling to activities, everything shifted online, thus creating a different atmosphere for them. Their physical activity reduced by a great extent in 2020. No on-ground activities, staying at home all day long, and looking at the screen for hours. The change is necessary to fight the virus, but at the same time, it has hampered the growth and development of many child r e n . To understand better, Deshdoot Times spoke to a parent and a paediatrician.
“My children recently started playing outside but were inside the house for most of the time last year. I feared the pandemic way too much and didn’t let my children go out. However, I started noticing changes in their behaviour. They became cranky and complained of eye pain. They weren’t leaving the phone and were becoming lethargic. I didn’t want them to turn into couch potatoes, so I started letting the colony’s children at my home. They played in my verandah for hours. Recently, they have started playing in the colony, and I can see them turning into their old self again. However, I still don’t let them step out of the colony.” – Jaya Nagdev
Outdoor activities are equivalent to exercising. However, children’s physical activities significantly decreased in the pandemic due to lack of outdoor activities and shutting off of sports classes. They started spending most of the time on their phones, resulting in various kinds of eye problems. If physical activity gets reduced, these kids tend to become obese. Weight gain and obesity were witnessed in the children of the upper class in the lockdown period. It is also possible that maybe, some children from the lower class didn’t eat enough nutritious food last year due to the financial crunch being faced by the family. This lifestyle change has also affected the psyche of children. Many have started self-alienating themselves. They don’t mix up with other people and have developed a feeling of loneliness. Parents play an important role in maintaining the health of the little ones. They are the role models of their children. They need to develop healthy habits if they want their child to be fit, and they need to motivate the little one to do some sort of physical activity at home.
– Dr. Nitin Surana, Paediatrician
