PARENTING DURING PANDEMIC

(Dr Naghma Javed, Life Coach, HCL Healthcare, Lucknow Clinic)

The ongoing Covid 19 Pandemic has changed our lives in many ways and, all the social distancing measures designed to keep individuals physically distanced from others are, though necessary, are causing widespread mental health issues, including depression and frustration, in old and young alike.

The basic problem for children during pandemic happens to be a lack of structure in their lives. Structure is important in everyone’s life especially children as they thrive in predictable routines and structures and feel lost if they don’t know what’s happening next; and so, it’s very crucial for their emotional and psychological development. The consistency of schedules, predictable rules, and set expectations teach children how to behave, develop self discipline, and impulse control.

Another important factor in parenting happens to be that children often learn many things by observing the behaviour of their parents and other care givers. Since during the pandemic, everyone is spending a lot of time together at home; and there is no space for people to hide their strong emotions from children. Children are often witnessing how their parents are behaving with their office staff, what kind of language is being used, how they themselves are following routines and structures, and to top it all being together in the confines of home twenty-four by seven is testing everyone’s patience.

Before we try to find solutions, it is important for all to realize that this is indeed a very tough time for everyone, and it’s important for all of us to find ways to stay positive and try to create a structure to our days as it’s no longer a few days, weeks, or even months; it has been more than a year.