In and out of the mask - experiencing everyday life after COVID through the eyes of parents and professionals

Abstract

COVID has also pushed the helping professions into a new, unknown territory, where they were faced with unprecedented problems and solutions. Most of all, it has affected families, all members of the family, including parents struggling to make everyday life run smoothly. The focus of our exploration is on the parents raising their children, the changes they (as social workers) told us about, which affected their everyday life at home, their quality of life, their lifestyle, their leisure activities. The data collection of this research, based on a qualitative methodology, was carried out in the framework of semi-structured interviews. The results show that COVID has brought about changes in several aspects of most families' lives, which have left a strong imprint on the mental and physical health of families, including parents, in terms of the quantity and depth of the problems encountered. For children/young people, socialisation processes, rumours and isolation were the main problems. When the results were processed, it was clear that COVID and life afterwards had significantly changed perceptions of relationships, mental and physical health and financial security. In addition to having to reorganise their daily lives, parents also had to deal with problems related to their children.