By Jackie Mader

This year presented extraordinary challenges for families, schools and child care providers due to the global coronavirus pandemic. As the pandemic went on, some major stories emerged that will play out well into 2021. Here are our top four early ed topics this year.  

1. The impact of Covid-19 on child care: As the coronavirus pandemic intensified in the spring, center directors were caught between being feeling scared to stay open for health and safety reasons—and scared to close for financial ones. As the year went on, experts warned that without more federal funds, half of all child care centers could close forever. And tuition alone would not be enough to save many centers that could reopen, especially those that were already struggling before the pandemic hit, in part due to a broken system of child care subsidies. Centers that stayed open during the year had to pivot to meet new health and safety requirements and many started to offer food and housing assistance in addition to child care. 

2. Talking to kids about race: This year, Americans across the country reckoned with race, especially after the killing of George Floyd in May. Experts say kids are never too young to learn about differences, especially around race, ethnicity and identity, and it’s critical to talk about this from an early age. This year, The Hechinger Report’s writers talked to experts about how to answer kids’ tough questions about race and racism and how to teach antiracism to the youngest students. Columnist  Andre Perry tackled what white parents need to say to their children, and implored families to have conversations about race on a regular basis. 

3. Young children’s mental health and wellbeing: The pandemic has created a drastic experiment in how kids will be changed by social isolation and potential trauma, my colleague Caroline Preston wrote earlier this year. And while conditions are dire for many of our nation’s youngest children, my colleague Javeria Salman wrote that there are ways to help kids who are feeling isolated and anxious.  

4. Parenting during a pandemic: Parents were presented with a tough reality when schools shut down. Many were suddenly trying to work at home with young kids or  struggling to find work and survive. And while working moms especially faced outsized challenges, all parents experienced frustration trying to balance teaching their children and navigating distance learning. Parents also faced the challenge of navigating tough conversations about the pandemic with children.  

To all of our readers, thank you for following our work this year, especially surrounding early childhood education! I am so grateful for the story ideas and feedback on our articles and look forward to continuing the conversations next year. We wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season!