Abstract
This paper explores aspects of parenting during COVID-19 lockdown, analyzing the international literature and presenting a study conducted in Italy during the initial period of social isolation (March-May 2020). The pandemic has made childcare challenging for parents globally, compromising the well-being and mental health of caregivers themselves (Brooks et al., 2020), and creating a potentially highly vulnerable situation for children (Gromada, Richardson, Rees, 2020). The COVID-19 emergency and the restrictions it has entailed bear short- and long-term implications for families, including the potential impact of delaying implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015) and increased risk of children witnessing or experiencing violence and abuse (End Violence Against Children, 2020). Given this background, we investigated the family ecosystem, exploring both individual and parental factors in parents’ relationships with their children, during lockdown.
Highlights
This paper explores aspects of parenting during COVID-19 lockdown, analyzing the international literature and presenting a study conducted in Italy during the initial period of social isolation (March-May 2020)
In order to protect the health of the world’s population, many countries implemented measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, including school closures, home isolation and community lockdown, all of which have secondary impacts on children and their families (Dulieu, Burgess, 2020)
The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped at national borders
Summary
The restrictive measures required by the pandemic have exacerbated and accelerated existing social inequalities within and between countries, with job losses pushing many families further into poverty and school closures creating a wider educational divide, and impacting children’s life opportunities, and their physical and mental health (Eurochild, 2020). In the current lockdown scenario, the measures adopted have often included the closure of childcare centers and schools They have often entailed restrictions on other childcare options: for example, grandparents may no longer be available to care for their grandchildren. Greater responsibility for children’s education has fallen on the shoulders of families since the introduction of distance education methods (Bucholz et al, 2020), and this has given rise to new tensions and challenges In such a scenario, the caregivers’ own well-being and mental health are critical factors (Brooks, 2020). Parents can become stressed, exhausted, and forced to make sacrifices in relation to their social life, education and employment This creates an extremely challenging situation for parents and potentially a highly vulnerable one for children (Gromada, Richardson, Rees, 2020). While the long-term implications of the COVID-19 crisis for the mental health of either children or adults are yet unknown, there is reason to believe they may be substantial, including the potential longer-term effects of delayed implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015)
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