The reduction in social contact outside the home as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic added significant stressors for many families as parents were unable to access the services, support and social networks that are crucial in children’s earliest years.
More than half of parents (52 per cent) said they did not cope well in the first year of the pandemic, according to 2021 report Home is Where We Start From by charity Home-Start, with slightly more (57 per cent) voicing concerns about their wellbeing or mental health. The period has taken a significant toll on many families, and the pressures show no sign of abating as the cost-of-living crisis and changes to support services made in response to the pandemic persist.
There is a clear link between parental and child mental health. Research has found that healthy children with parents reporting stress during infancy are twice as likely to experience mental health problems at the age of three.
‘When parents are stressed, their children will also feel stressed,’ says trainer Mine Conkbayir.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
If raising children ‘takes a village’, removing that village can have devastating consequences.
‘Parents pass on clothing, equipment, guidance and reassurance to one another in dynamic and personal ways,’ says Becky Saunders, head of policy and development at Home-Start UK. ‘They swap childcare, arrange trips out and share laughter and tears. They offer companionship to one another in the mundanity and questions of parenthood. All these things are buffers against the ordinary stresses and strains of parenting young children.’
Losing these support networks during lockdowns may have had a knock-on effect on how much activity and play parents felt able to provide, leading to children’s development taking a hit.
‘Parents might have had less time or headspace for “home learning activities” like playing or reading,’ Saunders explains. ‘Young children might have spent more time in front of the TV or using devices, and certainly anecdotally we have heard of young children swiping at books like they might do an iPad screen.’
In post-lockdown Ofsted briefings, practitioners reported children regressing in confidence and independence, and becoming more anxious.
INCREASED ANXIETY
Ongoing worry about the threat of Covid itself might have played a role in parents’ stresses, which in turn affected their children, says Sally Hogg, deputy chief executive of the Parent-Infant Foundation.
‘It won’t necessarily be fully, cognitively linked to the virus, but they will have picked up on a general sense from their parents that the world is a scary place,’ she adds.
Hogg recommends building strong relationships with parents. ‘If we see children coming into childcare settings anxious or hypervigilant, we need to understand what is happening at home. They may still have family members who are concerned about Covid, which might transmit to the child and create a need to work with the whole family.’
RISK OF ABUSE
In some cases, increased stress in parents can lead to extreme responses. Research reviewed by the NSPCC found the risk of child abuse is higher when caregivers become overloaded by stressors.
‘The pandemic increased stressors on caregivers, which, sadly, in some cases, increased child abuse and domestic abuse,’ says Conkbayir. ‘The reduction of normal protective services meant many children and families could not access urgently required support and intervention, and while virtual interactions were put in place, these are an unsatisfactory substitute for in-person interactions.’
LIMITED SERVICES
This continued absence of face-to-face support has undoubtedly also added to parents’ stress, with the No one wants to see my baby report by the Parent-Infant Foundation, Home-Start UK and Best Beginnings finding:
- 30 per cent of parents said local health visitor drop-in clinics were no longer operating
- 28 per cent said local health visitor appointments were still remote via telephone or online
- 12 per cent said local baby and toddler groups were not running.
Hogg explains, ‘It’s really important to understand the impact the pandemic has had on families’ perceptions of services. There are some families who felt like everybody abandoned them, and have lasting feelings of distrust. There might be the feeling among some communities that they can do this by themselves, so they will not engage with services and support.’
Indeed, Ofsted has reported that take-up of funded places for two-year-olds is down since Covid hit, while throughout the pandemic, fewer parents sent their children to settings, even for funded time.
Hogg adds, ‘There may be families who have never really taken their child out or left them with anyone because they couldn’t get family members to help and couldn’t pay anyone to take them. That’s the mindset they’ve got used to, so putting their children in a childcare setting is a really big step. They have had an experience of parenting that is completely unique, so we need to be sensitive.’
EARLY YEARS
As we learn to live with Covid, Hogg warns that settings should be aware of families’ struggles to readjust.
Conkbayir agrees practitioners can provide vital support. ‘Early years practitioners are wonderfully positioned to support families by offering them simple ways to enjoy their children and co-regulate their emotions and behaviour. This can be as simple as carving out some time every day to read stories together, do yoga or deep breathing exercises.
‘Experiences like this not only facilitate bonding, but are immediately effective in regulating our nervous systems, and this is what we want for every child.’
CASE STUDY: Kirsty and Roman
Kirsty Cowan, from Newbury, had her son Roman in March 2020, four days before the first lockdown was announced.
‘I didn’t realise how much the pandemic was going to affect us all,’ she says. ‘I was heavily pregnant and out of the loop. Then, when I went into labour, we saw signs about not being allowed visitors, and ended up in a hospital we’d never been to because ours was full.
‘It was a very strange time, very cut off, and worrying because there was so much unknown.’
Kirsty had limited contact with health services after the birth. ‘Roman suffered with reflux and I didn’t pick up on it for a while, thinking all babies got sick, and we were told health services were so strained, I didn’t want to bother them.’
She spoke to a health visitor when Roman was eight months old.
‘When I finally made contact about the reflux I unravelled a bit because I’d been holding in so much,’ she says. ‘That’s when the health visitor offered me some extra support.’
Kirsty was put in touch with Home-Start UK, and attended its postnatal depression Zoom classes, and later a perinatal support group.
‘You think parents raise a child, but you don’t realise how much others’ input guides you,’ she says.
Kirsty adds, on balance, the experience was probably positive for her son. There were positives for her, too, on reflection. ‘In some ways, having a newborn increased anxiety, but in some ways I had too much going on to worry. He was my focus. Nothing else mattered.’
Further information
- Maternal mental health report: https://bit.ly/3GxHxVt
- Parenting stress report: https://bit.ly/3GvDTeE
- Risk of child maltreatment report: https://bit.ly/3lTXVG6
- No one wants to see my baby: https://bit.ly/3vTTOzI
- Home-Start report: https://bit.ly/3lROC9X