Parenting Challenges In Lockdown

Aqib Mushtaq
WHO declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In many countries around the world, schools are closed, travel is restricted and the immediate future is unpredictable. There’s no denying that life as we know it is going to be quite different for a while. Around mid-March, when several Indian states sprung into action to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, their first step was to shut schools. Initially, the shutdown was meant to be till March 31, but it was then further extended till April 15, when the 21-day national lockdown concludes. The coronavirus outbreak is affecting people across India in different ways. For parents of school-going kids across the country, the experience has been overwhelming and exhausting. Kids, who typically spend between three and seven hours in a structured learning environment away from home, are now stuck indoors for weeks. Schools are shut. All out-of-home activities and social interactions have stopped, too. In such times, keeping kids engaged with creative activities that they find interesting is tough. As kids find their parents at home, they expect us to do things that we do during weekends. Usually when kids sees their parents at home, they want more of their undivided attention.
Parenting is made harder by uncertainty, stress and economic hardship. Parents and children are living with increased stress, media hype and fear, all challenging our capacity for tolerance and long-term thinking. For many, the economic impact of the crisis increases parenting stress, abuse, and violence against children.
What To Do?
1. Create a flexible but consistent daily routine.
2. Children have a right to truthful information about what’s going on in the world, but adults also have a responsibility to keep them safe from distress, recommending that adults use age-appropriate language, watch children’s reactions, and be sensitive to their level of anxiety.
3. Being at home means having access to the most exciting room in the house – plus everyone is going to need feeding! If your kids are old enough, they can help with daily meal planning and preparation, while younger kids will love to get stuck into anything that’s both messy and delicious!
4. Staying at home is a great opportunity to focus on the activities that tend to get less emphasis on the average school curriculum. If your kid is a budding Picasso, the COVID lockdown is the perfect time to nurture those talents. Art is also a great way for children to express any emotions they might be feeling.
5. We all know how important it is that kids are physically active every day. Guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services say that adolescents and children age 6 and older need at least an hour a day of physical activity, while children ages 3 to 6. Should be physically active throughout the day to enhance their growth and development.
7. Last but not least, don’t underestimate the importance of being part of a community – it’s what will get us through this! Schools should have measures in place so that your children don’t fall behind on coursework, but one positive thing to come out of the Corona-chaos is that so many of us are sharing resources online.
(The author is a student of BSc Nursing 3rd year at IUST Awantipora. Views are his own, [email protected])