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Parenting stress amid lockdown? Ludhiana admn starts free counselling
Available for parents from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm
With schools shut and children forced to stay indoors 24/7, most parents are finding it difficult to go about with their everyday routine while also helping children with their studies. To help parents cope with this added stress amid the pandemic, the district bureau of employment and enterprises (DBEE) has started a free counselling facility for parents.
Nidhi Singhi, counsellor (PhD in psychology) at the DBEE, said the facility is for the parents having school-aged kids. “Earlier, children used to spend about seven hours everyday in an educational setup. But now they are stuck indoors and it is becoming challenging for the parents to give in to their wards’ special demands throughout the day while working from home,” said Singhi, who has a nine-year-old son.
“The parents will also be provided counselling for other interpersonal and mental health problems,” Singhi added.
The counsellor said schoolteachers, who have kids of their own, are the most stressed these days. “These days, teachers are online throughout the day as they have to prepare educational videos, assignments and tests for the students. Further, they need to get the homework approved by the heads before sending the same to the students,” she said.
“Then these parents also handle students’ queries while doing household chores and helping their own kids with homework. All this has overburdened the parents,” Singhi added.
Gurjit Kaur, a city-based pre-school teacher, said her two daughters (aged 10 and 4) are being given more assignments during the lockdown. “I prepare assignments for my students at school and also help my daughters with their homework. Some assignments given to my daughters are tough and require my total assistance in solving them. As I got stressed with managing everything, I hired an online tutor, who is charging ₹700 per subject, for my elder daughter,” Kaur said.
Ravinder Kaur, a government schoolteacher, said, “I get calls throughout the day from students who want me to answer their queries. So, I only do the work that needs priority so that I can also help my son with his homework and do the chores,” said Kaur, who has a 13-year-old son.
DBEE deputy CEO Navdeep Singh said the counselling facility is available for the parents from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm. “We have started giving sessions on phone on various issues, including handling children during the lockdown, preparing for competitive exams, self-care, time management while in quarantine and dealing with stress. Parents will also be taught thought modification techniques for improving mental health besides career counselling,” Singh said.
“Interested individuals can call on 7889194960 to avail this free counselling facility,” Singh added.
