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Is the ongoing pandemic putting your parenting skills to the test? Sheree Gomes Gupta brings in the experts to help navigate your child’s well-being through these difficult times

- Sheree Gomes Gupta

As a single mum of a now 16-year-old teenage boy—who missed half of his 10th grade board exams in March (after rigorously preparing for over a year), celebrated his birthday with friends and family via Zoom, spent his summer break holed up at home, and then started his new academic year online—the ramifications of the pandemic are all too real, with the increased stressors getting the best of both him and me. Parenting is a tough job any day of the week, but this past year has been especially challenging, even for those of us who have had the privilege of staying safe at home. The United Nations and its agencies, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, and closer home, the Indian Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health have all reportedly warned of longterm psychological, physical, social, cultural and mental health implications on our children. So I decided to reach out to the experts—the counsellors, psychologists and educationists—to seek answers on how to keep our kids as well taken care of as possible in these unprecedented times.

What are some practices we can inculcate to ensure our children navigate life today with their mental and physical health intact?