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Children Living with Loneliness - COVID and politics run amok

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | film by Leone [1966] | Britannica

Allies, friends, mirrors, social circles, check ins, check outs, special handshakes, hugs, high fives...gone? Outside the walled-off political fortresses, there exists real scientific evidence regarding the impact of social isolation on children.

What evidence? 

Well, ask the World Health Organization what happened when the iron curtain fell and we got a look at marginalized children surviving in socialist/communist communities.

In the anecdotal extremes, Romanian children held hostage in orphanages by a communist regime who rocked back and forth, presented as intellectually disabled, and grossly underweight/underdeveloped.

What evidence? 

In recent months, explore the exponential increase of children and adolescent anti-depressant prescriptions since March of 2020(check Utah County).

See also the FDA warning regarding the increase of suicidal thoughts in children taking SSRI's. Particularly, when first taking the medication. (source).

  • Air pollution increases odds of early death by 5%. 
  • Obesity increases odds of early death by 20%. 
  • Excessive alcohol consumption increases odds of early death by 30%. 
  • Living with loneliness increases odds of an early death by 45% (source). 

From a social, psychological, physical, spiritual, and evolutionary scientific perspective; we know that we are social beings. Of absolute certainty, we know that children thrive throughout their development when they have a strong social network.

Socially connected children thrive academically, they are more well rounded socially, they have increased likelihood of finishing high school - which by the way should inspire society because a high school graduate is likely to contribute 1 million dollars into the tax base over their lifetime. Talk about leveraging the social infrastructure!(source).

I'm a parent. But I am biased and myopic about my own beliefs and ways of living. My children need and have benefitted greatly from friends. The more social interaction they've had, in fact, the better humans they've become.

If left alone with me to teach them all day, well, that's a social crap shoot.

I'm also an educator and a highly learned man. I've taught my children a great deal about life. Of great benefit to them have been the teachers with whom they've associated - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Our children should be in school.

Onward!

Dr. J


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