3.1 Theoretical and Conceptual framework

situation puts parents at a higher risk of experiencing distress, potentially impairing their ability to be supportive caregivers. The lack of support these children receive in such a difficult moment may be the reason for their more pronounced psychological symptoms. Policies should take into consideration the implications of the lockdown for families' mental health, and supportive interventions for the immediate and for the future should be promoted.

The goal of this study was to provide a detailed snapshot of parents' experiences at the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the United States. Findings suggest the pandemic is negatively affecting parents' mental health and emotions and children's stress, with a disproportionate impact on mothers and low‐income families. Although this study offers a preliminary understanding of the ways in which the pandemic is affecting families, a more detailed investigation of parents' mental health, emotions, and behaviors and children's distress during the pandemic is vital to guide future policy that supports families during these unprecedented times.

1.6 Limitation of the study :

This study had some limitations connected to the interpretation of results because COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus and there is not enough prior research to compare the results to. Likewise, caution should be exercised in generalizing the study to a national population, provided the limited sample size. Because of lockdown orders, data have been collected from a single location. We anticipate that these findings will not be entirely generalizable to all families in Bangladesh.

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Chapter Two

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2.1 Literature Review:

Mehe Zebunnesa, Susmita Kar found that COVID-19 is a massive problem all around the globe it is a challenging time for children and parents. However, parents have a significant role to play that could succor children’s mental well-being and healthy development. Positive parenting could assist children to oversee the impact of this pandemic by fostering resilience. It can also ensure better development outcomes in behavior, intellectual, emotional, and social skills. This is a difficult time for all with no easy answers but some of these simple strategies may benefit children and parents. Striving to ensure appropriate care of children, parents may tend to neglect their wellbeing. Parents should master to strike a balance between their job, household chores, and quality time with children. Furthermore, there is a great need for parents to emphasize their well-being focusing on healthy nutrition, physical exercise, adequate rest, and sleep. On a positive note, the current crisis can serve as an opportunity for personal growth, family cohesion, and to allow a healthy parent-child relationship.

Md. Siddikur Rahman , Ajlina Karamehic-Muratovic published related to the During the pandemic, many parents have experienced increased pressures and erosions to social supports, with implications for their mental health. In a US survey, the majority of parents expressed that during the pandemic, concerns about finances, social isolation, criticism from others, as well as emotional experiences of sadness and loneliness were affecting their parenting. Globally, school and child care closures and the hiatus of after-school activities has added to parental pressure to balance responsibilities, including becoming the sole providers of supervision and education for their children all while experiencing heightened financial and emotional stress. Families, generally, are affected by the disruptions of the pandemic. However, these pressures disproportionately affect families who experience health and social inequities, including fewer financial and social resources, crowded homes and limited technology and Internet access. The collision of these stressors has contributed to increases in domestic violence, and emerging studies have shown increased frequency of shouting and physical punishment of children since the pandemic began. In Canada, federal and provincial governments began implementing lockdown measures midMarch 2020 including border closures and restricted travel, restrictions on group gatherings, school/child care closures, mandatory working from home and temporary

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suspension of non-essential health and public services. National COVID-19 incidence rates first peaked in April 2020 with nearly 3000 new cases confirmed daily.13 By early May 2020, incidence rates were decreasing and provinces began easing lockdown measures including re-opening businesses and encouraging rehiring of employees. However, there were indications that the pandemic was already impacting the mental health and well-being of Canadian children.1 For example, by April 2020, reports showed a dramatic surge in calls documented by Kids Help Phone, a national helpline for young people, with a 48% increase in calls about social isolation, a 42% increase in calls about anxiety and stress and a 28% increase in calls about physical abuse. Experts raised alarms that disruptions to routines and services, combined with increased family stressors, social isolation and domestic violence, were creating conditions that risked increasing child mental health problems on an unprecedented scale, with children from marginalized and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds likely to be disproportionately affected. Thus, while young people initially appear to be less susceptible to the physical effects of the virus, they are experiencing significant challenges, likely resulting from the social and economic impacts of the pandemic within their family contexts. This is particularly concerning as research consistently demonstrates that children’s early exposures to stress can have lasting effects. Families and children are furthermore supported by a social ecological system that has been forced to adapt quickly to support families’ needs, often with limited information or evaluation. School and child care closures due to the

pandemic are concerning not only for the disruption to typical classroom learning, but also for the loss of systems-level safeguards such as nutrition programmers, afterschool care, school health and counselling services and vaccination clinics that seek to mitigate some consequences of health and social inequities among structurally vulnerable children and families. And yet, even as schools and workplaces started to re-open, concerns were raised about the health risks of returning to populated spaces (including public transit) disproportionally affecting families with lower incomes, fewer resources and with limited options for returning to work. Furthermore, families, child care settings and schools are nested within health authorities and government structures that determine many of the policies, services and financial and employment supports available to parents as well as the availability of these supports beyond the pandemic.

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