Parenting Pointers: Stressed About Working and Parenting and Monitoring School? You're Not Alone

As schools continue to remain closed throughout the country due to coronavirus, more and more parents are finding themselves with an unexpected and challenging new job title: Teacher.

Kids have lists of online lessons to complete and curriculum to review with their moms and dads, and parents may be feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the workload and the pressure to help their children make the right amount of progress during the time schools remain closed-- not to mention the pressure to still successfully complete their own work.

After seeing a 200% increase in the numbers of questions and answers on its homework and study help platform, Brainly surveyed 600 U.S. moms and dads of school-age children to find out how the closures are impacting them personally, how they are helping their kids with schoolwork in the absence of in-classroom instruction, and how it’s impacting their own work productivity.

Here's a summary of the findings about how parents being impacted by school closures and homeschooling:

1. WORK WOES. Nationwide 41% of parents said their work productivity has been negatively impacted by their child shifting to home learning, and 44% said they have had a work call interrupted by one of their children.
    
2. THE NIGHT SHIFT. Roughly 37% of parents said they work an extra 1-2 hours each day to make up for time lost during business hours that were devoted to their children because of school closures, and 24% said they work an extra 2-3 hours each day.
    
3. ANXIOUS TIMES. About 84% of parents are worried that COVID-19 related changes to their child’s education schedule and routine will negatively impact their learning, and 61% are worried their child’s college and career prospects will be negatively impacted. Additionally, 68% of parents are worried about their job security because they have to devote more time to their children due to school closures.
    
4. STRESS TAKES CENTERSTAGE. Nearly 79% of parents said they find it stressful to help their child with homeschooling. When it comes to the most challenging subject for parents to help their kids with, 66% of parents agree it’s math.
    
5. TEACHER APPRECIATION. Approximately 78% of moms and dads said they have a newfound admiration and respect for their students’ teachers after having to help their child homeschool during the COVID-19 school closures. 

Eric Oldfield, Brainly’s Chief Business Officer, is facing the challenge of working from home while his two daughters, ages 7 and 10, learn from home at their New York City residence.

Oldfield says: “These survey results are proof that the transition to online learning and homeschooling is changing nearly every aspect of families’ lives, not just for students but also for parents. As families struggle to work on homework assignments during these challenging times, there are many online tools and resources they can turn to for help such as Brainly.”

To recognize the extra time and support parents are putting in to help their kids learn from home, Brainly has launched a new ‘Power of Parents’ Scholarship that gives high school students the opportunity to write a 300-400 word essay describing the biggest sacrifices their parents/guardians have made to support them while learning from home. Submissions are through April 30, 2020, and the winning entry will receive $2,500 to help pay for college or to enhance their home learning setup.