Working Parent Woes

 

I have been experiencing first hand some of the juggling that working parents have been dealing with because of the pandemic.  As we enter the time of back to school, the stress and anxiety levels of parents have been steadily increasing.  Some parents have been wondering if they can keep their jobs if their child or children are unable to physically go back to their school.  Others worry about extra costs associated with child care and the potential for their child to get sick.

It isn't a surprise that the kids also have much higher levels of anxiety.  Often, they don't even know how to communicate what they are feeling.  I've been nannying three kindergarten kids who are all attending public school remotely.  Each child is from a different family and we are a learning pod.  This way, the parents can pool their resources to be able to afford a nanny and the kids get some level of  in-person social interaction on a day to day basis.  These first three weeks have been an adventure and a half.

Each child received a Chromebook from their school and has been signing on each morning (or I've been signing on for them) during the week for lessons.  So far, we've had about a million technology issues, each one accompanied by an outburst of frustration from whichever child's computer was struggling.  There have been days where the teacher has had internet problems and cannot sign on to teach all day.   I am left to try to come up with some semblance of a lesson plan for the day.  Now, I am no teacher, but I try to choose activities that are similar in nature to what I have seen them working on.  The parents and I have taught the kids how to work zoom at a basic level.   They sort of understand how to turn their video on and off, and how to unmute themselves when it's their turn to speak in class.

While the kids are in school, often at least one parent is still home (if not both), working in a home office.  They have had to help out at certain instances, such as when we were first learning to sign on and I couldn't be working with three computers at once.  They've also had to provide a work space for the children and supplies that they might need throughout the day.  Meanwhile, they are working their own full-time jobs and need to focus on those while I am there to help.

                                                      

An example of what online learning looks like above

Studies have suggested that there are some ways to help ease the transition back to in-person school for both kids and parents. A few examples are: getting back to a regular sleep schedule, having conversations about all of the uncertainty and talking about mask etiquette. But, even following these tips can't prevent all anxiety. Parents are being asked to keep themselves composed in front of their children so that they don't pass more worry onto them. This is a huge ask of parents and I think this might be one of the hardest things to do right now. In addition to working a full-time job, parents now have to hire help or help their children with school themselves. AND then they have to remain totally calm while they are probably feeling mounds of stress.

In a recent survey that CNBC reported on, 73% of working parents said that they planned to make major changes to their work life to accommodate lack of child care.  In addition to making changes to their work life, 56% of parents were going to incur additional financial costs to provide additional tech resources for their child's remote schooling.    

If you have children in school, how has this pandemic affected you??

-Vicky



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