“I am just a child and I have no strength to bear this weight. I try to move away my pain, by punching the wall in the bathroom.” This statement is retrieved from one of the thousand letters written by children and youths from all over the country, during the periods of lockdown – an initiative of the Communications Museum, that was in highlight in a reportage of “Telejornal”, on RTP channel, on June 5, which was commented by Bárbara Salgueiro , Hospital da Luz developmental paediatrician. For this specialist, the letters are quite revealing of the impact that COVID-19 pandemic has had on the mental health of children and youths. “We find kids with anxiety disorders – that are now diagnosed or that had already been detected and decompensated – and also many children with self-injurious behaviours. And this not only on older adolescents, but also in children with 9-10 years old”, she reports. Bárbara Salgueiro reminds that “ children are very skilled at hiding what they feel and think ”. Therefore, it is very important “when parents are immersed in teleworking, that they actually observe the child, at least for one hour a day, and have a serious conversation with him to try to brave somehow his thoughts and feelings”. Reportage “Letters from the pandemic” (Cartas da pandemia)
