The COVID-19 pandemic can be especially distressing among young children.

“Having to adapt to these new circumstances, with the online studying system and deprivation of playtime outside the house, can be tough for young children. Parents who are also stressed out juggling various work-from-home and domestic work demands might not be emotionally available or sensitive for their children’s needs all the time,” children’s clinical psychologist Kantiana Taslim, who works for psychological consultancy company Personal Growth, told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

“Because of this, some children can become extra-cranky; or lose interest in things which previously brought them joy. Some children have no idea what to do to occupy their time any longer due to the tedium of prolonged quarantine. Some children have become more emotionally dependent and clingy to their parents as they’ve not been able to enjoy social interactions with their playmates,” she explained.

F.S. Putri Cantika, a 34-year-old working mom living with her eight-year-old son Arka in Bogor, West Java, said that since Arka had started to attend online classes in March 2020 and lost his playdates with his schoolmates due to the quarantine, he had become more demanding of Putri’s time to play with him.

Putri said communication gaps often happened between the mother and son due to their significant age gap and spending longer time together than usual.

“Arka wasn’t used to be around adults for too long. Maybe if he spent too much time interacting with an adult like me, he would grow up to be a stiffly serious adult person?” she wondered.

At the same time, Putri also needs to take care of her coffee business. Juggling responsibilities exhaust her. “I am afraid that I will lose my patience with him,” she told the Post.

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