Parenting in a Pandemic - Have your Say.

This year has been one of the most stressful in terms of parenting children and young people. From home-schooling and navigating remote learning platforms to monitoring extra screen time and attending online parent teacher meetings - it’s been a huge and unwelcome learning curve.

Being honest from a personal perspective, my family struggled our way through it. There were tears and tantrums (from everyone!) and I think it was at the point where I opted to prioritise a happy home over an educational battlefield that things started to get a bit easier for us all.

However, I am worried about the impact this academic upheaval has had on my children. However well we muddled through it was a far cry from the usual structured school year and its welcome predictability.?

I would encourage parents everywhere to take part in the Barnardos Ireland Back to School survey. We have included specific questions around the impact of the pandemic to ensure you can have your say about this challenging year. There is also a survey for children to take part in themselves – we want to give them a voice to share how they feel and to tell us what this year has meant for them.

You can take part here: www.barnardos.ie/BackToSchool2021

Closing date is Monday 5th July 2021