We conducted a literature review to analyze the sources of work and family conflicts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, we investigated these conflicts’ effects on children’s mental health and academic progress during their remote learning encounters. We discovered that the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of most schools and employment organizations. Consequently, most children and parents and children were confined to their households. Most parents took up the role of instructors in the distance learning environment. They kept an eye on their children to ensure they finished their schoolwork on time. Parents also took up the responsibility of enforcing school standards at home, which led to a rise in parent-child confrontations due to unmet expectations. Furthermore, most parents lost their employment, making them express their anger to their children, causing fear and intimidation in the family. Then, we suggest that school counselors develop cooperative plans involving school staff and community members to repair broken family relationships. To ensure children establish good ties with their parents, school counselors should also give life skills training to COVID-19 family conflict victims.
Keywords: Family conflicts, mental health, distant learning, parent-child confrontations
After the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States in 2020, the federal and state governments were forced to implement several protective measures to counter the devastating effects of the virus. Some of these measures included mandatory stay-at-home directives that forced many children to stay locked in their homes with their parents for several months (Kalil et al., 2020). Under the lockdown conditions, families were exposed to fears of getting infected, mental health issues, loss of household income, and increased uncertainties, which increased the risks of family conflicts. Previous studies indicate that caregiver burden under the quarantine conditions increased the chances of parent-child conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. Children were also alienated from necessary support services where they could report child abuse and neglect cases, exposing them to more dangers in their home environments (Sinko et al., 2021). Furthermore, the changes in the daily routines of children and their caregivers increased tensions at home, which also increased the chances of a conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic increased household family and work conflicts, which threatened children’s mental health, causing a socioemotional disturbance.
Child Productivity and Parental Expectations
The COVID-19 pandemic forced learning transitions from school settings into home-based learning, which increased parent-child conflicts. Under remote learning conditions, most parents assumed the partial roles of educators. They supervised their children to ensure they completed school tasks within the allotted time. Parents also enforced school policies at home, which increased parent-child conflicts to unmet expectations (Sinko et al., 2021). Some of these cases led to abuse due to uncontrolled reactions from parents. In some cases, parents also transferred their office duties and started conducting their roles under the work-from-home initiatives. This transition increased the work burden on parents because they were forced to conduct their office work while monitoring their children’s learning activities. Children who failed to meet parental expectations in learning were abused as parents took advantage of the situation to vent their anger.
Furthermore, conflict arose at home regarding how children spent their leisure time and contributed to household chores and other responsibilities. Some children were spanked regularly for missing targets set by their parents. Students with disabilities faced the gravest disadvantage during the pandemic due to mishandling by their parents (Sinko et al., 2021). Some conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may weaken a child’s performance, attracting punishment from unrelenting parents. Most parents were unwilling to sympathize with their children regarding their medical conditions as they deemed them lazy. Disagreements in norms about how adolescents should devote their time at home appeared to prolong family disagreements and cause stress within household situations.
Parental and Child Mental Health Issues
The COVID-19 pandemic cut off typical support for children and parents, causing fear and uncertainty in homes causing mental health issues that increased home conflicts. In terms of parental mental health, many children observed that their parent’
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