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Being Stuck at Home With Our Kids Both Creates and Relieves Stress.

Parents who are cooped up at home with their kids have the uniquely difficult task of managing their own anxiety while being calm for their children.

Alison Escalante MD
3 min readApr 24, 2020
A boy and a girl having a pillow fight
Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash

Families are entering their fourth to sixth week of being at home with their kids during COVID-19. The closeness is a lot of closeness.

A recent study from the University of Michigan shows that the stress of COVID-19 is really getting to parents, “There is no doubt that many parents are more stressed out than ever before. For a large number of parents, financial concerns, other worries, social isolation, loneliness and sadness are getting in the way of parenting.” In the online survey of 562 parents, 52% said that the self-isolation and worry about finances where getting in the way of their parenting.

Among the parents, 83% reported that their children’s schools were closed. For better or for worse, the parents were spending more time on parent-child activities, something today’s U.S. parents were already doing more than any prior generation.

Parents did report feeling close to their children. They were hugging more and playing more games together. 81% of parents were noticing and saying positive things to…

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Alison Escalante MD
Alison Escalante MD

Written by Alison Escalante MD

Parenting Author of Sigh, See, Start | Forbes & Psych Today Contributor | Pediatrician | SighSeeStart.com

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