Hi, this is Janet Lansfury. Welcome to Unreffled. Today I have the idea to try something a little

different. Going through my inbox and pulling out some of the questions that are in the same

vein so that I could do one podcast incorporating several questions. One thing I discovered is that

I'm actually really good at making a connection between disparate things, which reminds me of the

difficulty I used to have with multiple choice tests where I just wanted to say all of the above

because I could figure out a way to connect all of them. But anyway, I settled on a few questions

that I received that are all about transitioning to a new normal now that hopefully the pandemic

is mostly behind us and children are starting to socialize again. We're all starting to socialize

again and there's some difficulty children are having in the transition. Okay, so I'm going to start

by reading one of the emails I received. So here we go. Hi Janet, thank you for all of your work.

I've read your books and learned so much from your podcast. My question has to do with having a

COVID baby. My son was just six weeks old when our region went into the first complete lockdown.

We've worked hard to keep him safe. I was planning to go back to work part time when he was 12

weeks old but was able to stay home with him full time in response to the pandemic. We have seen

close friends out of doors and at a distance periodically and regularly face timed with family

both for our own sanity and to share him with the people we love in a way that felt safe.

Now that all adults in our sphere are fully vaccinated we are moving towards, quote, normal

socializing. I took him to see my family for the first time since he was two weeks old and what

became clear is that while he is very social and outgoing from a distance he seems deeply

distressed by another adult touching or holding him. He's 16 months old and I know that separation

anxiety is normal for a child his age and that it is likely exacerbated by his experience of

isolation due to the pandemic. My question has to do with how to best think about supporting him.

...