I find myself being deeply annoyed that now people are suddenly so concerned about children’s mental health when they’ve been utterly uninterested in it for years. It’s hard not to suspect that the key variable is not children’s health but having to go without free childcare.

If we cared about children’s mental health, we would have enacted real gun laws instead of expecting our kids to run shooter lockdown drills. If we cared about children’s mental health, we would fund school counselors.

If we cared about children’s mental health, we would be reaching out to them *now* and getting them help without requiring them to brave covid for access to it. If we cared about children’s mental health, we’d have plans for their return that included it.

Simply being physically in a school building is not magic, in terms of mental health. Kids experience school-related trauma, depression, and suicidal ideation in normal years, and yet we’ve not really given AF.

So what’s different this time? I don’t think it’s kid’s needs.

This is not to say that children’s mental health isn’t suffering, or that they don’t have real needs that demand attention. It’s that I’m very suspicious of this sudden “concern” whose sole solution to the problem is very convenient for *adult* needs.