Perspectives September 2021∣Youth Hong Kong
Constant change l Loneliness, no social life and children not inclined to learn have been the constants for many parents during the pandemic.
l 疫情期間，許多家長需要面對孤獨、 欠缺社交生活和子女不願學習等問題。
l A picture of anxiety, bordering on fear for some parents, emerges from this representative group.
l 一些受訪父母因此感到焦慮和擔憂。
l Despite the upset, resilience and adaptability have emerged, as they navigate lives through an extraordinary period of family life.
For all those months, we had stay indoors and go nowhere with no human contact apart from each other. The hardest part was just staying motivated. I’ve got two girls and I tried so hard to keep them both happy, busy and learning, but for so long, there was nobody else in their lives, just me and my husband.
l 雖然疫情擾亂了生活，但這些家庭充 分展示抗逆應變能力，走過這段非常 時期。
and imagination and interaction. Online learning at home was so new and Molly struggled. It worried me. Basically, I was feeling “mum guilt.” I had to try to make sure they were happy and not scared of the outside world at a time when we couldn’t let them go out. It didn’t work. I couldn’t control what happened. When all the children wanted was to get out of the house, it broke my heart. I had to say “no.” They were so upset.
Basically, I was feeling ‘mum guilt’.
To begin with, the girls didn’t have devices of their own so I let them play with an old iPad. Trying to keep them enthusiastic about lessons was very stressful. At first, I had everything organized with many different activities lined up. Each day included lessons and games and they help me with cooking and cleaning. The pandemic taught me lessons too, about how important hand-washing and hygiene are, and how quickly a fast-circulating virus can bring the whole world to a standstill.
I realize that I have lost closeness with my friends. I am a very tactile person and many people feel awkward about physical contact now. Even with my dad, it was months before we managed to have a hug. Although meeting up is possible now, I am conscious of preferring to do things outdoors. My attitude to physical closeness with friends has changed. There is a pause while each of us tries to find out what feels right about closeness and ask that awkward question “are you ok for a hug?”
When all the children wanted was to get out of the house, it broke my heart. I had to say ‘no.’
But soon I got the feeling that I wasn’t doing enough. I kept thinking that they were missing out on important education. I couldn’t help them concentrate on lessons. Georgia, the younger one, could manage better but my older daughter, Molly, got very sad and lonely. When she got upset, I’d let her play video games with her friends. I couldn’t force her stick to a timetable, there was no point. She was used to lessons with lots of people
I do believe in time this will return to normal but for the present I accept that it will be different. The fear, of variants coming back, of the vaccine not working, it hasn’t gone away.
Laura, formerly a senior nursery nurse, has two children, Molly aged 11 and Georgia aged 5.
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