The coronavirus pandemic is like a tsunami in our lives. It has changed our daily life schedule, where every morning we used to be busy getting ready for our office and getting our children ready for school has come to a stop. We have started doing our work from home, and our children have started attending their classes online. Though it might seem to be easy and enjoyable, the reality is not so. Sitting at home, sometimes we feel very lethargic and we really want to meet our colleagues and friends and get ourselves energized with their funny talks and humorous attitudes. The same is the case with our kids. As it is always said that man is a social animal, we cannot keep ourselves away from society. Our children, on the other hand, are of a maturing age and cannot be confined within four walls. So, is this pandemic affecting the mental health of our kids? Well, most of the time, your answer would be yes to the asked question. Let’s understand how it is affecting our children.
Emotional Wellbeing
A child’s mental development is as important as his or her physical development. Meeting with society teaches them how to understand and deal with people, as well as how to be emotionally strong. The moment they are confined within the four walls, their development is hampered and they might not be able to deal with the world. A mentally healthy child performs better in their studies and is found to be happy. But the coronavirus pandemic has built boundaries around us where we are not allowed to go out and meet people. This has affected our kids a lot, as they are not going to school nowadays and are also not able to meet their friends.
Fear and grief
Increased anxiety and feelings of being unprotected are some of the fears that have developed in our kids. Whenever we switch on the television or turn the pages of a newspaper, we come across news about the coronavirus, which makes us feel helpless as adults, and the impact is far greater on our little ones. They may be unable to express their feelings, or they may be unaware of why they are feeling this way. On the one hand, it is our duty to console them and tell them everything is going to be alright. We should groom them to be smart and strong rather than being weak.
Increased Screen Time
Though parents are at home doing their work, they don’t have time to take care of their kids. Working from home sounds very fascinating, but actually it is not like that. Our work time and burden have both increased. We don’t have much time to take care of anything, so the option left for our kids is to either play video games or watch television. This has increased the screen time of our kids and is impacting them in a negative manner.
Parents’ Fatigue
Working from home, i.e., working from home and office both at a given time, Earlier, we had a specific office time where we had to think only about our office work, but now it is different. While working for your office, you also have to see who is at the door and listen to the kids’ demands. It can be difficult for a parent to convince their child that they will attend to their request later, as well as for the child to understand why their parents are saying so.At the end, the parent ends up shouting at the kid, making them cry or feel depressed. These are some incidents which have affected the psychological wellbeing of our kids.
There are various articles being published where many suggest ideas to take care of our kids. But reality is different. And the reality is that kids love to be among their friends and classmates and grow with nature.
