It’s been more than a year since the physical schools closed down due to the ongoing global pandemic. Most of the schools that had the resources to transition into a virtual setup did, while the others that didn’t were forced to permanently shut down. This left students, teachers, and school staff at a complete loss for a while.
Fortunately, after some time, people began to accept the situation and adjust to their circumstances. It was a difficult transition because although homeschooling is not entirely new, the mandatory implementation of it was. So, if the students don’t want to get left behind, they have to comply with the imposed changes.
The older students in high school and college might have been able to adjust to the transition more easily because they have experienced online basic education before, but the same cannot be said for the small children. This is because they have always been in the traditional school setup.
That’s why they need all the help they can get from their parents to make the transition to online schooling easier on their part. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to make sure that your children are getting everything they need to learn, which includes these three intangible qualities:
Patience
The pandemic has been hard on everyone, including your children. Unlike you, who has access to sufficient information to help you understand what’s going on in the world, your children might not. Therefore, they deserve to receive your patience when they’re feeling confined at home and unable to meet other kids their age.
Receiving education in an online setup is also very different from the traditional approach to learning. Instead of having their teachers instruct them face-to-face regarding their schoolwork, they would have to face a computer and webcam for extended hours at a time.
And instead of spending their break times playing with their friends at the school grounds, they will have to make do with what you have at home. If they wanted to bond or spend time with their classmates, they will be forced to face the computer once more. This hinders them from enjoying their school ages.
Understanding
Aside from your patience, your children will also need your understanding when they are feeling burned out from the virtual school setup. Just because they’re children and are dealing with small responsibilities than you have doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to feel exhausted.
Don’t dismiss or invalidate their feelings by comparing what they’re facing with the responsibilities you had to deal with at their age. This will only cause them to push their valid feelings aside in exchange for forced productivity, which can be harmful to their mental and physical health.
Remember that you are completely different people with varying levels of strengths and weaknesses. Instead of comparing your children to yourself, try putting yourself in their shoes. Imagine that you’re the one who’s clueless as to why you can’t go to school like before and why you have to receive your schooling through a computer.
Once you see things from their point of view, it might help you become more understanding about what they are feeling or why they are feeling that way. Doing so can also help you help them cope with their realities and why their lives seem to be put to a stop because of a lethal virus strain that has taken so many lives along with it.
Guidance
After you show them patience and understanding, the next thing they will need from you is guidance. This entire experience might be new to all of you, but you have more wisdom and experience under your belt because you’re the adult in this equation. So, guide them in the right direction.
When they ask for your help, take the time to see what they need and how you can be of assistance to them. This can apply to schoolwork, home life, their relationships with their friends, or even just life in general. They could be having too many questions and not enough answers; take some load off their shoulders by providing your guidance.
It’s important for your children to receive an education despite the current state of the world, but you should never compromise their physical and mental well-being in the name of academics. You have to learn when it’s time to give in to their woes and when you need to lay down the rules.
By providing them with the necessary qualities that they need to cope with their situation, you’re also helping them grow into kind and understanding people. After all, isn’t the whole point of education to create a better society filled with morally sound individuals? As a parent, this is how you can help your children make that possible.
