Anxiety was writ large on his face when my friend told me, “It is like entering a warzone when we return home from office. The discipline that our children had before the lockdown has gone out of the window.”
My friend and his wife, who are already stressed out due to different reasons including disrupted work schedules, financial strains coupled with an uncertain future, appeared to have been in an urgent need for psychological support, like millions of other parents worldwide.
Family routines are being upended, and many of us struggle as we go through pandemic times.
Avoid passing your tension on to your children, which can unsettle them for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Control your emotions and stay calm.
With the change in the mode of education from traditional classroom-based studies to online learning, the parents also assume the role of de facto teachers at home. Very often the lack of thorough knowledge in the subject or incompetency to help children in assignments lead to increased stress levels and frustration in both children and parents.
In these cases, parents should be honest about what is working and what isn’t. They should seek the help of their teachers so that they may be able to help you come up with a more suitable learning plan.
Since so much has been stripped from our everyday lives, having something to look forward to can help the children stay motivated.
Let’s face these unprecedented times and its challenges. These are less-than-ideal circumstances, and at some point, conflict at home is bound to happen. As working parents, they should deal with their own worries first. They should ensure that they are not in an anxious state when they are in conversation with their children.
Amid challenges, we should not forget the fact that there are also opportunities to get to know our children better, to learn new things together, and to stay stronger as a family.
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