Teacher: COVID mandates and ‘endless’ state of emergency are creating co-dependent kids

Flash back to June. For the first time, my youngest was to attend Boy Scout camp, something he’s heard his older brother wax poetically about for five years. This was also the last year of camp for my oldest. The boys have one summer, this summer, to be together at camp. Off they went. Have fun, boys!

Two hours later, the phone rang.

It was the scoutmaster. Without anyone’s prior knowledge or consent, the director made the on-the-spot decision to rapid test every scout for COVID once they arrived at camp. My youngest tested positive. He has zero symptoms, but we needed to go get him. He could not stay.

An hour and a half later, we arrived at the camp and were directed to a quarantine tent, where we saw our oldest, sitting outside, talking to his brother through the canvas. Climbing in the truck, it’s clear he’s been crying. Said he didn’t mean to, he didn’t know, was worried that he had actually done something wrong.

My husband was telling me to let it go. And I couldn’t. I tried. I am still trying. I can’t get that phrase out of my head. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Because I’d heard it countless times this past year from my students.

Thankfully, sports are back this year, and our athletic director will test athletes at lunch. Inevitably, I’ll have a student come in to get his or her belongings. They had tested positive, even though they had no symptoms, and had to go home.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Steele.” “I didn’t know.” “I didn’t mean to.” “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

You know who else says this? Children living in dysfunctional homes. California’s countless mandates and our governor’s endless state of emergency are conditioning a generation of kids to become co-dependent. Congratulations everyone!

Let’s look at common behaviors in children who grow up in co-dependent homes. According to Psychology Today, the common warning signs of a co-dependent child are:

▪ the need to be in control

▪ an excessive need to please others

▪ extreme worry

▪ not feeling “good enough”

▪ blaming self for others’ problems

▪ a lack of trust

Do we adults really want to be in the business of convincing kids that they’ve done something wrong merely because, in the act of living, they’ve exposed themselves to danger, whether that be a virus or an abusive home?

Now imagine the past three years if you have been a child living in a dysfunctional and dangerous household. Will shutting them out of society make them more trusting? Less worried? Less inclined to blame themselves for other people’s problems? COVID is endemic. Bad policy, in California, is also now endemic, and irreparably destructive to our most vulnerable population.

In California, no organization purporting to be foundational — not church, scouts, school, sports — none of these institutions attempted, in any tangible way, to throw a lifeline to our children. Not one. Scouting’s motto is “be prepared”, but prepared for what?

We collectively communicated to kids, stop trying and stop believing; it’s not going to work out anyway. In California, groups pretending to be the “good guys” have effectively told young people that fear and chaos are actually good for their development. C’mon, kids! You are resilient!

The vast majority of California’s children have been at the mercy of adults who decided on a whim to upend society. How will these disastrous policies chart the trajectory of our young people’s lives?

A generation has been told by society to shift their drive into neutral, and when it’s time, you can start it up again.

Maybe. Unless a new policy comes along.