Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Laura Owens, and I'm Jan Black. Nobody is immune to the stress that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions that it's

placed on all of our lives. As far as children are concerned, coronavirus may be less harmful

to their bodies than it is to those of older people, but it may be more difficult for kids

to deal with emotionally than it is for other age groups. On this episode, we'll take a look at

the mental health impact of the pandemic on children

and teenagers with our guest, Dr. Mary Alvord, who's a children's psychologist in Maryland

and co-author of Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescence, which focuses on

enhancing the ability to adapt well to life and its challenges.

Dr. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Pleased to be here today.

I think all of us could use some tips on adapting well to life's challenges during the pandemic.

But I'm wondering how you're seeing children and teenagers, especially being impacted by it?

You know, I think it has gone in phases because, of course, things are in constant change.

You know, so much of the time we think about uncertainty aligned with anxiety, but now what we are

certain of is constant uncertainty.

So in the beginning of the pandemic, and I would say mid-March,

when most of the schools on the East Coast started shutting down,

kids were concerned and anxious about grandparents

because the first word out was, you know, we have to stay home to protect our grandparents and, you know, people who are frail.

And over time, what the restrictions have meant is they also impacting them on a daily life because not only were they switched to online schooling,

which was new for them, but it was also new to the teachers. So the schools were quickly trying

...