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Parenting stress: How to overcome anxiety from online learning
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More pressure: Not understanding school assignments and having to invest more in time management are two of the more common challenges parents have faced in switching to online learning during the pandemic. (Pexel/August de Richelieu) (Pexel/August de Richelieu)
A
s with children and teachers, switching to online learning has profoundly affected the mental health of parents. Experts explain why and how to navigate the stress.
The government announced that schools would resume offline learning from April 2022, as the rate of COVID-19 transmission had decreased significantly. However, different schools in different regions would continue to have different regulations, with some allowing students to opt to continue with online classes.
While schools’ readiness to reopen remains up in the air, what is clear is that the last two years have brought an unprecedented sort of challenge for many parents in taking a larger and more active part in their children’s schooling.
Greater demands
Those parents concerned about online learning often question its effectiveness and efficiency. Parents who had long argued for resuming offline classes say that children and teachers have both suffered from the large number of assignments for subjects that are harder to teach and learn online.
The end result is that they take far longer to complete. Often, and particularly for parents with younger children, this means more work than usual for parents in helping their children with their assignments.
According to Yuli Alisma and Zakwan Adri, whose “Parenting stress pada orang tua bekerja dalam membantu anak belajar di rumah selama pandemi” (Parenting stress of working parents while helping their children study at home during the pandemic) was published in 2021 in the psychology journal of Muhammadiyah University, Lampung, 87 percent of 100 parents with children in elementary school in Pasaman, West Sumatra, said they faced constant hurdles when their children moved to online learning.
