Good News Network · 3 hours ago

The Pandemic May Have Changed Young People for the Better: a Positive Take on the 'Covid Generation 

While the pandemic's toll on young people has been well-documented, researcher Lori Peek uncovered a quieter truth: many children and teens didn't wait to be helped-they stepped forward to help others. Teenagers took over emergency medical services when adult volunteers couldn't serve, five-year-olds assembled care packages, and kids across the country painted rocks with hopeful messages for neighbors walking past. "For some young people, it was also an awakening-a realization that they had the capacity to do something in the face of a crisis," Peek explains, noting that today's youth have become what she calls "more disaster literate," instinctively recognizing which communities bear the heaviest burdens. The question now is whether adults will make space for what these young people already know they can do.