OVER A QUARTER OF PARENTS IN WALES ‘OUT OF THEIR DEPTH’ AS CHILDREN STRUGGLE WITH PANDEMIC FALLOUT

New Action for Children research shows UK parents are on the edge as pandemic causes mental health issues for them and their children
• Parents say children have felt isolated, suffered from night terrors and displayed aggressive behaviour during lockdown
• Charity’s online services connects mums and dads with parenting coaches

A YouGov survey of over 2000 parents by Action for Children today (Tuesday 14 July) lays bare the devastating impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on millions of families in Britain, with parents and children struggling to cope with issues caused by life in lockdown.

After months of lockdown over a third of Welsh parents (38%) say that their children are feeling isolated and lonely, with millions across the UK also reported as anxious, or unable to sleep. ¹ This has left Welsh parents themselves reeling with almost half (47%) feeling anxious and more than a quarter (29%) admitting to being out of their depth when it came to supporting their children during the lockdown. Many are also experiencing the same loneliness and sleep problems they say their children are.

Even with restrictions easing, parents are fearful about the weeks and months of uncertainty ahead. Two in five (39%) say they are worried their children will struggle to socialise and want to remain at home. Mums and dads experiences included their children ‘bedwetting’, becoming ‘clingy and unsure’ and not ‘wanting to go outside’. Others reported ‘disordered eating’, that their child had become ‘weepy’, ‘frustrated’ or ‘scared of people’ outside their home.

With ongoing uncertainty, Action for Children is warning that things are likely to get worse as the long term impacts of the pandemic become clearer. After seeing a surge of 415% in the three months of lockdown to its digital parenting advice service, the charity is urging parents to use the service which connects mums and dads with trained parenting coaches. Its confidential one-to-one online chat service gives parents somewhere to turn for free, practical advice and emotional support.

The charity is also urging the government to do its part by prioritising children’s mental health in the COVID recovery planning, and providing adequate funding to meet the surge in need feared in the months ahead.

Lynn Giles manages online support services for parents at Action for Children across the UK. She said: “The pandemic has triggered a crisis for mums, dads and children on an unprecedented scale, with parents feeling overwhelmed without their usual support from friends and family, or any certainty for the future.

“Huge numbers of children will need extra support over the coming months and parents are telling us they don’t know where to turn. As the immediate health crisis passes we now need to turn our attention to the scars coronavirus has left on families struggling with a whole new reality – with many grieving from having lost loved ones, and others worrying about their jobs and their futures.

“With so many mums and dads in desperate need of guidance, our online services are needed now more than ever. Our parent coaches are there for any questions parents have – big or small. Anyone who needs a bit of support in these tough times can go to actionforchildren.org.uk

Case study: A mother from Cardiff, whose 3 year old daughter’s sleeping problems have suffered during the Covid-19 crisis, said: ‘My daughter has had a recurring issue with sleep and I wanted advice on improving that for her as it was affecting her and us on many levels. We wanted to improve her situation in terms of waking up through the night and settling her down in the first place. We sought advice from Action for Children before the Covid crisis and it really improved. Then the coronavirus struck and it definitely had an impact and her sleeping suffered again, she basically had a relapse.

‘The online service was very easy to use and very useful in that it could be switched to email if you needed it to. I could just check my email and get advice that way. The advice was also really useful as it was tailored to me so I was able to discuss my personal experience and issues specific to me and get advice and try techniques based on that discussion.

She added: ‘It was very good and she has definitely improved with her bedtime routine. We managed to bring her bedtime forward so she didn’t get over-tired, I hadn’t realised that was part of the problem. So the little practical tips were the most valuable pieces of advice, things that were common sense but you can’t see unless someone points them out to you. I have already recommended it to other parents I know as it was so useful to me but I would say, look on the website with your specific issue, it really helped me.’