Top three stressors for parents: education, work, and screen-time
The top three stressors for parents during the Covid-19 pandemic include their children's education, work — even in secure jobs — and their children's screen-time.
That's according to a new study carried out by the Co-SPACE project at the University of Limerick (UL), aiming to track the mental health of school children and young people throughout the current crisis.
While the majority of parents and carers surveyed feel they are able to meet the needs of their children, as well as the demands of their job, during the crisis, one third said they are only meeting their needs a bit, or not at all.
Overall, less than half of the parents (44%) surveyed said that their children carry out two or more hours of schoolwork per day, with 60% of teenagers completing more than two hours daily.
A further 23% of children are carrying out more than two hours of schoolwork per day.
Almost three quarters (72%) of parents of children ,and just over half (59%) of parents of teens, said they are able to support their children a lot or a great deal around schoolwork. Around three quarters of the parents surveyed said their children and teens are getting more than 30 minutes of exercise daily.
Parents also reported that children and adolescents are spending most of their time on schoolwork, watching TV, Netflix or Youtube, listening to music or playing video games.
These preliminary findings are based on the answers given by 500 parents or carers surveyed between April 7 and April 29. The study's authors, Jennifer McMahon and Elaine Gallagher, say they are keen to recruit as many families as possible to the survey.
* Parents and carers can sign up online or here and take part at any point.
