COVID Broke Our Kids

The COVID-19 pandemic has broken our kids. This book provides some super glue and duct tape to help support our children as they heal. Using these techniques you can help your children. Scott McIntosh is a teacher who works with over 6000 students a year. He has been working with students throughout the pandemic. When students eventually returned to school full-time without masks and no social distancing, he was shocked by their behavior. In the summer of 2023 he finally had a chance to talk to other parents and reflect on everything that he had been living since March 19, 2020.

This book is that reflection. He explains how his job changed and the impacts virtual learning had on his family and students. He breaks down each major transition that we had to go through and talks about his observations as a professional educator, a coach, a father, and a husband.

Teaching through the pandemic has been challenging. We changed formats, expectations, delivery systems, and teaching platforms. McIntosh has seen firsthand the effects of these changes on our children. When students returned to the classroom in 2022, he was super excited. That excitement quickly turned to frustration and survival. When he realized how broken our students were, he had to change how he taught. Students had forgotten all the hard and soft skills that are essential for communities to be successful. He has found strategies that seem to work wonders with his students and athletes as they struggle to figure out how to return to "normal."

McIntosh has also been a husband and a father throughout this ordeal. He has witnessed first hand the toxic stress on himself, his wife, and his own children. He has documented his struggles and the techniques he and his wife used to help his family deal with it all. If you are still feeling stressed, depressed, frustrated, and/or anxious, you are not alone. These feelings are going to take time to deal with. Come follow McIntosh on his journey as he takes a hard look at how the pandemic impacted his life. Hopefully his journey can help you with yours.