Parents would avail of mental health support for their children

A new survey by school-age childcare provider Sherpa Kids has found that as many as 47% of parents would avail of mental health support services for their child as they return to school after the Covid-19 lockdown.

The figure rises to as high as 82% among parents who believe that Covid-19 restrictions have already impacted their child's mental health (54%).

Sherpa Kids, which provides school-age childcare in 50 primary schools across Ireland, partnered with Behaviour and Attitudes to carry out the survey in two waves among a total of 1,276 adults, pre Covid and post lockdown in July 2020.

It found that 80% of all parents said that Covid-19 restrictions had impacted their child's routine and 67% their education. 59% said it had impacted their child's development.

A vast majority of parents (91%) felt they were impacted by Covid-19 with their child’s routine (80%), their child’s education (67%) and personal mental health (59%) affected most.

Overall, just under 3 in 10 parents say the restrictions have negatively impacted their child's behaviour. Almost half of all parents (48%) reported no change to their child’s behaviour, while 24% said restrictions have had a positive impact.

The lockdown has taken its toll on parents as well. 59% said that the realities of Covid-19 lockdown, such as having to juggle professional work with home-schooling, have negatively impacted their own mental health.

Sixty-four per cent of parents said they have found going through lessons and home-schooling "very challenging" or "quite challenging", and 62% said even finding the time to do this has been difficult.

These figures increased with the age of the parent's child; 85% of parents with a teenage child said going through lessons was either very or quite challenging.

Sixty per cent of parents believe the availability of structured school-age childcare, such as extracurricular activities and supervised homework, would have improved their child's behaviour. This figure reaches 65% among parents aged 18-34 and the same for parents of young children aged 0-4 years.

More than two-thirds (69%) of parents feel that the Government should be providing more mental health and wellbeing supports and assistance to children. 42% believe they should come from local authorities, while 31% believe they should come from childcare providers.

Since the Covid-19 lockdown there has been a significant shift in priorities among parents of children aged 12 and under when choosing school-age childcare.

63% say health and safety measures in line with Covid-19 guidelines is now the key factor in choosing a school-age childcare provider. Cost, which was a key determining factor among 58% of parents in March, has dropped to 36% since lockdown.