I would argue that the initial reaction to it was just right, because we literally had no idea how bad it could be, and we needed to "flatten the curve" to keep our systems from being totally overwhelmed.
Where the "overblown" reaction came in I think has more to do with the relevant experts and agencies having to fight back against the stupider elements of society. In order to achieve a reasonable level of control on the spread to keep from running out of beds and supplies, those of us who understood the science and the deleterious effects of the behavior of those who *didn't*, had to overcompensate. This of course leads to a vicious cycle of "this is a hoax their[sic] trying to control us all!" leading to a rise in cases, and everybody else having to compensate more and more.
As far as schools, I agree a significant amount of damage was done to students for whom their parents never really cared in the first place. We only have one child (now 8) so I don't really have a comparison available, but I don't think he's really got any serious long-term problems because of it, other than a hatred for any large Zoom meeting in general (maybe not a bad thing?). Heck, it's well documented that the lockdown had a major *positive* effect - with kids at home, parents realized how much trouble many had concentrating, and also had both the option and availability of remote diagnosis of ADD/ADHD, leading to a lot more treated cases (our son among them) and a better chance at school in general going forward.
However, I don't agree that it should have only lasted a few months, for the same reason as above. Kids are walking Petri dishes, and if a single case shows up in school it *will* spread to other kids, who then take it home and spread it to their grandparents and other medically-fragile family, and off we go. If *everybody* had taken reasonable precautions, the number of initial vectors entering the classroom in the first place probably could have been reduced to a manageable level, and they probably could have gone back much sooner than they did. But by the time we eventually did reach the point where it could have been managed, the anti-vax idiocy had thrown down deep roots too, and there was no chance.
Unfortunately (though I have done very little research on this so far) it seems that we may be heading into another COVID+flu season with a pretty virulent (if not as dangerous, as expected by anybody who understands viral evolution) strain, and I'm already seeing the crazies come out of the woodwork "I will not comply!!!" and "they say its[sic] coming in September, its[sic] all PLANNED I TELL YOU!!!1!!1! Maui was D.E.W. and blue roofs will save you!" (somehow FB has decided I need to see a large amount of that bullshit, so I've been on a reporting spree....), so we're going to dive straight back into that cycle. <sigh>