Price: $39.95
Page Count: 248
Publication Date: June 2023
ISBN: 978-1-77258-448-6
“This dynamic collection of essays nurtures the reader’s appreciation for the emotional needs and
expressions of children who are living through severe pandemic-related restrictions on their
social, spiritual, and intellectual lives. From the diverse perspectives of caregivers, scholars, and
practitioners, this book gives fresh insight into how children with diverse needs and from diverse
communities survive a global mental health crisis that has uniquely and disproportionately
impacted them. Are the Kids Alright? urges us to attend to the nuances of inadequate mental
health services, family separation, new custody arrangements, missing grandparents, and the
stressful conditions of intensive mothering in isolation—particularly as these conditions shape
the inner lives of children. This book also inspires us to celebrate and commit to uplifting the
things we all need: play, intergenerational love, story, art, and more time together.”
-AMANDA WATSON, author of The Juggling Mother and Senior Lecturer of Sociology and
Anthropology at Simon Fraser University
Are the Kids Alright? offers a variety of voices, formats and styles to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children and their families. The resounding evidence from psychologists, academics, nurses, mothers and family mediators demonstrate how the kids were NOT alright. Rich insight into uncovering the lived experiences and coping strategies of children and their families is seen in poetry, photography and art, and in the knowledge of Brazilian, Indigenous, Black and scholar mothers who offer workable and creative tools to parents when dealing with the mental health of children.
- Fiona Joy Green, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies University of Winnipeg
Acknowledgements
The Impact of the Pandemic On Children and Their Families
Linda Rose Ennis
Part 1:
Thinking About the Children During the Pandemic
Failing Our Daughters: Teenage Girl Attempted Suicide, COVID and the Broken Canadian Mental Healthcare System
Melinda Vandenbeld Giles and Rebecca Hughes
Family Participation in the Development of Children with Intellectual Disabilities in the Pandemic
Francisca Charlenny Freitas de Oliveira, Vera Lúcia Mendes de Paula Pessoa, Virna Ribeiro Feitosa Cestari, Raquel Sampaio Florêncio, Thereza Maria Magalhães Moreira, Edna Maria Camelo Chaves, Lêda Maria da Costa Pinheiro Frota
Attachment and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Brianne Coulombe, Tuppett Yates and Bridget Cho
Taking Care of Children and Preadolescents in the Restrictive Home Stay: Caregivers’ Actions During the Early Months of the Pandemic
Eny Dórea Paiva, Karina Rangel da Silva Garcia, Luciana Rodrigues da Silva, Maria Estela Diniz Machado, Paloma Gonçalves Martins Acioly, Rosane Cordeiro Burla de Aguiar
An Upside of Separation and Divorce: Mothering and Co-parenting in the Pandemic
Rebecca Jeremko Bromwich
Part 2:
How Children and Their Families Felt
The Presence & Prescience of Grandparents During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Jacqueline Kolosov
Paperwork: Mental Health Isn’t New: It’s Just Been Filed Away”
Hillary Di Menna
Coping with COVID-19: Child-Parent Reflections on Perceived Stressors
Lisa H. Rosen, Linda Rubin and Meredith G. Higgins
Between the Screens: Notes From Pandemic Therapy With Children and
Adolescents
Tracey Hurd, Kiley Gottschalk, Angela Jones and Laura Matlack,
Part 3:
How We Helped Children Cope
Gchi-Apptendaagoziwag akina Niizhigwag Idaanisag: The Lives of My Two Daughters Are Precious
Renée E. Mazinegiizhigoo-kwe Bédard
Noticing: A Story of a Mother and Son’s Arts-Based Discussions about the Pandemic
Lauren E. Burrow and Ethan S. Burrow
A Moment of Beauty: Verses of Hope for Children in a Time of Pandemic- The Song of a Small Thrush
MIRELLY DA SILVA BARROS, MARIA WANDERLEYA DE LAVOR CORIOLANO-MARINUS,
BIANCA ROCHA GOUVEIA, ADÉLIA KARLA FALCÃO SOARES, MARIA ILK NUNES DE ALBUQUERQUE, WESLLA KARLA ALBUQUERQUE, TALITA MENDES BOMFIM, VITÓRIA ANDRADE FARIAS DE OLIVEIRA, BRENDA ELIZE NUNES DA HORA
Emotional Support and Academic Expectations: How to Balance it During and After the Pandemic
Ronald Stolberg and Denise Sweetland
Epilogue:
Separateness and Connectedness in the Pandemic
Linda Rose Ennis
About the Contributors
Dr. Linda Rose Ennis is a psychoanalytic therapist, marriage, divorce & parent consultant, a family mediator, an author, and lecturer. She has contributed chapters such as “Contract-Faculty Mothers: On The Track To Nowhere” (Demeter), as well as “Mothering or Parenting” (Routledge), in addition to many submissions to the Encyclopedia of Motherhood (Sage). Dr. Ennis' edited collections include Intensive Mothering: The Cultural Contradictions of Modern Motherhood (Demeter:2014) and After the Happily Ever After: Empowering Women & Mothers in Relationships (Demeter:2017).
