"I couldn't see my friends; the internet was bad, and I hardly went out" - insights into children's and adolescents' experiences of COVID-19 in Germany.

To bolster children's mental and social resilience in future epidemics, participants' plea for maintaining social and physical interactions with significant others and for keeping schools open should be heeded by policy-makers. Our study also highlights the benefits of conducting direct research with children and using non-verbal methods of data collection.