Concerns over pandemic stress affecting parent and children relationships has led the student mental health services of the Wellington Catholic District School Board to plan a webinar providing resources and tools for parents to combat stress.
The Surviving Parenting in a Pandemic webinar will focus on realistic parenting during the pandemic, including how to build stronger bonds with children during a time of uncertainty.
The session will take place on Mar. 4 starting at 4:30 p.m. and will feature speakers from mental health services, program coordinators, social workers, other parents with young children and mental health clinicians.
Some topics that will be discussed include attachment and brain development, setting realistic expectations and acknowledging when a break is needed.
This webinar comes after several parents admitted to the school board they were struggling maintaining relationships with their children while balancing the demands and responsibilities placed on them during the pandemic.
A release from the WCDSB says endless demands have been placed on caregivers of young children and the level of stress that is carried at times has trickled down to the relationships they have with their children.
"Many parents have had to juggle working fulltime jobs while also caring for small children, often feeling that they cannot attend to work responsibilities, or their children’s needs the way they would have liked to. As a result of this, parents have been reaching out and inquiring what they can do to help strengthen the bond given the impact of the chronic stress from COVID-19 on their families," says Sony Brar, the mental health lead and manager of student mental health services for the WCDSB, in an email.
"After hearing from many parents about similar concerns, we felt it was important to bring parents together in this webinar to normalize the feelings they are collectively experiencing and to discuss strategies they can use in strengthening the connection with their children."
Although the webinar is meant for parents with children in kindergarten to Grade 3, any parent is welcome to attend as the information can be applied to children at any stage of development.
Brar adds this webinar will not only benefit parents, but also children, as deeper bonds with caregivers can positively impact their social, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing.
"We hope those who attend will take this information and be able to apply it in their relationships with their children," says Brar further in the email, "We also know that if children feel connected and securely attached to their caregiver(s), this positively impacts mental health in our children; and that is the goal here.'
To register for the event, click here.
