LIVING DURING A PANDEMIC

BY SYLVIA DUNNAVANT HINES

For almost three years the world has struggled with COVID-19, its side effects and recovery. Those with school-age children are finding that the challenges of the crisis from the pandemic are still evolving.

According to a report from the U. S. Surgeon General, before the pandemic, children’s mental health was a public health concern, and levels of anxiety were on the rise.

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant additional stress, fear, and worry for many families. Worries about sickness, finances, isolation, coping with grief from loss, and having less outside help have made parenting more stressful.

“We noticed that when we came back to school, it seemed like the kids were two years behind in maturity,” said Candace Haywood, a mother of two school-age students, who also works in administrative service for Coppell Independent School District. “My son, Essence Jr. (EJ), even felt that the setbacks from COVID-19 hurt his GPA.

“Even though he returned to school last year, teachers had to divide their time between the children at school and those that were still doing remote education. Therefore, the teachers were not engaging as much with the students that were sitting in front of them. As a result, he didn’t have a good year academically.”

According to Haywood, an independent learning style doesn’t work for everybody.

“I think we noticed that across the board, there were challenges with students academically.”

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 93% of parents with children in grades K-12 said their children

had some on-line instruction since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in late February 2020.

About 30% of those parents also said they have had a very or somewhat difficult time helping their children use technology for educational purposes.

“In March of 2020, when my children were not able to go back to school because they shut the schools down, there was an adjustment period for our family. The schools were trying to do remote learning. It was very challenging because we had to rely on technology and sometimes technology did not always cooperate with us,” said Haywood.

At one point Haywood admits that she and her daughter, Grace were both in tears. They were both overwhelmed dealing with the challenges presented by remote learning. She also admits that juggling two school-age children and working from home forced her to get creative with her space.

“As a parent, you are the teacher for your kids, and you still had to do your own work. On top of that, you had to remember your own Zoom calls for work while remembering the kid’s Zoom calls for school,” she continued, adding that keeping up with all the schedules was a struggle. “Then we had to make sure everyone had a different part of the house where they could have quietness when they had to Zoom in for their session,” said Haywood.

For those parents dealing with medical conditions prior to COVID-19, the pandemic brought additional concerns as they had to focus on their own health while homeschooling.

“My youngest daughter, Arianna, was in third grade when COVID-19 hit. She tends to get sick before everyone else, said Kozette Vaughn, a mother of six in the McKinney ISD. “She got COVID early on and had to be rushed to the emergency room. She already had asthma and had to be placed on a ventilator. This was scary for me because my immune system was already compromised from cancer. I was trying to nurse her back to health, protect myself and keep my other children from getting sick all at the same time

Vaughn’s entire family ended up dealing with COVID-19 twice. She had to navigate through financial hardship, homeschooling her children, and her own health challenges.

“I honestly don’t think that any of us has fully recovered from COVID-19,” said Vaughn. “Working from home, remote learning for our children, and simple social interaction has impacted our families. It has been hard to get back to what we felt was normal before COVID. It is just like we only have a memory of what life was like before COVID -19.”

Haywood also believes that the isolation from homeschooling and social distancing after returning to school has stunted her daughter’s emotional maturity. She has spoken to other parents that were concerned about the same issue.

“Although there were many negatives with COVID-19, there were still some positives,” said Alexis Powell, who was pregnant during COVID and has three daughters in elementary school. “The biggest takeaway was that my children have all learned to be more adaptive to what every environment they are in.”

Powell, whose daughters attend Arlington ISD, admits that her three school-age girls were excited to return to school because they missed their friends and face-to-face interaction with their teachers. The older girls have recently gotten involved with volleyball.

Haywood says she is better prepared should another pandemic occur.

“If it happens again, we will have a game plan. We will be prepared because we know we can get through it. I feel our attitude will be different and attitude is everything.

“If our mind is in the right place, we can wrap our mind around this is how it is going to be and have a different outlook on life.”