By Sara Al-Mulla, Arab News, October 7, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has been awfully stressful for families with children. Many parents have had to struggle with unemployment, financial insecurity, and a lack of recreational activities, with minimal support from child care services or their social networks. Research shows that these factors intensify parental burnout, as well as increase the likelihood of child abuse or neglect.
It is especially important, therefore, to offer a suite of family support services to help parents so that their children can thrive. Much research advocates the critical role that parents play in children’s physical, emotional, social, and mental development. For example, those possessing greater parental knowledge of childhood development have been associated with improved childhood outcomes and a better home environment. In fact, evidence published in 2018 shows that “parental involvement in early learning has a greater impact on children’s well-being and achievement than any other factor.”
With this in mind, it is imperative we draw upon the saying “it takes a village to raise a child” and harness the experiences, skills, and knowledge of experts and volunteers to assist parents in their child rearing. Services should cover training programs that educate parents about important parenting skills and knowledge, in addition to providing emotional support services that can help carry them through difficult circumstances, such as poverty, chronic illness or even daily struggles.
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