Parenting through the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented individuals the world over with a host of confronting realities and challenges without precedent. Parents are arguably in one of the most taxing positions as they face many responsibilities leveled at them as individual adults, but by way of being a parent their circle of concern is inevitably broadened as they renegotiate how and what “parenting” is in the pandemic climate. Parents are finding that multitasking is taking on a whole new meaning as they negotiate a collision of roles—many of which they feel particularly unskilled in undertaking (e.g., a home-schooling teacher, or a guidance or pastoral counselor), in a growingly isolated world full of social distancing, lockdowns, curfews, and quarantining requirements. The nature of many of these new roles, and the inevitable importance of these (e.g., their child’s academic progression and mental wellbeing), and the sheer number of time competition between these make for a highly stressful environment. The pre-COVID-19 capacity to undertake the parenting role meant that many of these tasks were shared between many other adults in the family (i.e., extended or blended grandparents and stepparents, etc.) and the immediate social systems (e.g., teachers, religious leaders, social and sporting groups). With access to these support systems becoming limited during the pandemic, and with many other coping strategies rendered unworkable (e.g., “time out” with friends or engaging in other social activities), parents find themselves at high risk of parental burnout. Such burnout poses a risk to their own physical and mental health, both immediate and long term, and may compromise their capacity to adequately parent, resulting in risks for their children in the form of neglect or abuse (Griffith, 2020; Humphreys, Myint, & Zeanah, 2020). Fortunately for most parents the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, while still stressful, are experienced in a more balanced way allowing for psychological growth within the family. This chapter will explore the unique positioning of parents within the family unit and how such a structure might impose both a greater scope of concern but also a source of strength. The chapter will consider the imitable stressors experienced by parents and the dynamic coping strategies available to parents to navigate this period. Finally, a reflection on the varying familial outcomes, including parental burnout, family violence, and posttraumatic growth will be undertaken in an attempt to highlight why, and how, families may experience such diversity in positive and negative outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.