Hello friends, I have started writing, in fact, touching the keys of my laptop after a period of four years since I submitted my PhD. I am a mother of 2 daughters- the elder one aged 6 and the younger one aged 2. Since the onset of the great pandemic- just like everyone out there, the last 1.5 years have been so strugglesome for a mom working all-time at home like me.
Amid all lockdowns and closed schools, a big sigh of relief was the beginning of online education for small kids. We were happy our elder kid won’t lose out on her academic year till the schools re-open. The initial days were easy when it started little by little, but now- putting her on the seat for 4 continuous hours glaring at the screen is getting difficult.
The kid is irritable, a lot of effort is required to make her scribble in her classwork notebook, and forget about the homework hassles. The happiest time of her day is when she signs out of her class. She talks that she wants all days as holidays, even though she is not going away to school physically.
Online schools are trying to be quite innovative by giving lots of activities but most of the time, it ends in we parents completing them. On a lighter note, when someone asks me what am I doing, I simply say I am studying in Grade-I.
Sitting with her till all her school hours, then doing revision, homework, assignments and projects as well. Yes, it’s hard on our part as parents- maintaining school and home for the kid at home every day, given routine daily chores and a toddler responsibility as well. So, it feels as if all the burden of a child’s education is the parent’s headache only, with teachers playing a feeble distant role.
I know the entire tone of the article sounds like that of a tired complaining parent but no one can be blamed for all this. The situation is such that this is the most we can get for our kids given the severity of the pandemic. The only hope is in praying for normalcy to resume soon: a safe environment for kids with friends and teachers, back to school, again in school.
The Article is written by Dr. Pooja Rani.
