The Pandemic Generation

What We're Missing About Children Born Into Lockdown

Lila is a precocious young girl born in March 2020, just as the most restrictive COVID safety measures were going into effect. During testing sessions, she was poised and thoughtful, approaching cognitive challenges with a scholarly focus. Yet her teacher described her as wild, defiant, and impervious to consequences. Her story sheds light on how pandemic-era conditions shaped early brain development, why the resulting behaviors are easily misread, and the extraordinary power of preventive intervention for safeguarding confidence and self-esteem.