Parents can help children feel optimistic by listening to and validating their worries, teaching them coping strategies, reviewing safety protocols and supporting them when they face difficulties.
One big complication with K-12 distance learning is how hard it is to get children and teens to log in and do their schoolwork. But there are things teachers and families can do to help.
Parents of young children are reporting alarming increases in anxiety and depression during COVID-19. This is not only a risk to parents’ mental health, but also to children’s long-term well-being.
Victorian parents will have a total of 72 days of free absences from childcare, if services agree to waive the gap fee. And childcare services will receive 25% of their revenue from the government.
Most children can no longer attend childcare in Melbourne. Parents have to look after them if they’re working themselves, while the sector faces collapse if the government doesn’t step in.
Victoria’s closure of child-care services may be necessary, but it will put pressures on parents and likely drive down women’s workforce participation.
Having loads of extra quality time with a toddler or preschooler and feeling flustered? Make sure you know how and where to do this basic disciplinary method the right way.
The effects of economic stress on children are big. Parents’ anxiety about their financial situation is equivalent to the effect of a divorce, and is likely at play amid COVID-19.
Taryn Morrissey, American University School of Public Affairs
For US parents, the health, economic and social crisis the COVID-19 pandemic brought about is compounded by the difficult if not impossible task of working, caring for and educating kids.
A study found that students’ experiences of parents’ psychological control predicted higher fear of failure and worse adjustment to their university studies.
In about two in three US families with two parents, both are working or looking for a job. That makes caring for kids when schools and day care providers are closed hard if not impossible.
One in four children will experience sleep problems before their 10th birthday. Here are the top factors, plus steps parents can take to give their kids (and themselves) a good night’s sleep.
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary
Assistant professor, School of Psychology, Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa