Nigerian parents adopt various strategies to cope with lockdown with their children at home
By Charles Ogwo
Many more Nigerian parents are now learning how to stay at home with their children and getting them to be productive. The global spread of coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, has many communities in Nigeria into lockdown, as many schools have been closed down across the country just as many business establishments are under locks and keys.
In Lagos State, the state Ministry of Education announced a total lockdown on all primary and secondary schools in the state on March 23.
For many parents dealing with the lockdown of economic activities and schools at the same time, it was a call up for a new adventure in home-school management, as well as the total handling of the children.
This is more difficult as apparently, no parent was prepared for handling and coping with the sudden closure of schools and quarantining of children as well as themselves. Lagosians, are no exception.
Moreover, unlike other normal holidays, ‘the lockdown holiday’ do not afford the parents the privilege of hiring tutorial coaches or taking their children out for funs and adventures. Hence, both parents and children are stuck in a ‘face me, I face you’ syndrome.
Mrs Favour Onye, a mother of three and a house wife, who is used to handling situations like this especially during the long vacation break, found the restrained movements as the main challenge in this situation.
“I will normally give them assignments from their school books, and ensure they do it. At such a time they are tamed, though, sometimes, they will become restless, demanding for all sorts of things”, Onye, a resident of Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos State.
But Mrs. Okewunmi Esther, paramedical personnel, and a mother of two boys, this sudden development is already driving her crazy.
“I cannot even rest, when you give them assignment, the next minutes, they are demanding for food, biscuits or mineral drink. Sometimes, they will be on your neck to take them to eateries, which you and I know is not possible. I had wished there is a way to get them home teachers, but the prevailing government order, would not allow it”, she noted.
Okewunmi as medical person is faced with meeting the regular work demands, which according to her is even increased now with the rampaging virus in town, and managing her home. More so, her husband is not immediately around to help her out in the home front.
“Sometimes, it is like taking a prey from the mouth of a lion trying to stop these children from embracing me when I am back from work. I have to sometimes sneak in to avoid contacts with them until I have taken my bath or sanitized my hands”, she said.
No doubt, this stay-at-home does not feel like a holiday to many parents, not with the challenging situations surrounding it. To heighten the pressure is the fact that there is no specific end date for the holidays and resumption for the third term.
However, Mr. Isinguzo Ikechi, a Lagos resident, who believes the situation comes with many facets of disturbances, funs and bonding, has his strategies for coping all mapped out.
“In the morning, I ensure the family holds their prayer moments together, and that, the children are given some time to rest. After awhile, the family goes out for jogging on our street. At the end of the morning exercise, they take time out to rest and have their meal. Afternoon is time for lectures”, he said.
However, the main challenge for Ikechi, an interior designer, is that with the children around, it is difficult to sleep in the afternoon, especially when there is no light to engage them with the cartoons and other children programmes on television. He however, noted that the whole scenario is full of funs and brings about more bonding because now he has more time for his family.
Also, to Mr. Clifford Obanor, an Engineer, it has been fun all the way. The lockdown, if not for anything else, has provided him the opportunity to bond with children. And this, he is doing with a well-structured approach.
“We share activities, for instance, our Bible study is done on roaster basis every day, thereby carrying everybody along. Besides, we share house chores and burdens. We also eat together”, he said.
On how the children had being coping with their studies, Obanor said, “The grownups have their timetables for their online lessons and their lectures from television programmes; while the junior ones normally take their assignments as given to them from their various schools before they came back,” he said.
Mrs. Victoria Idenyi, a business woman, who resides in Jakande Low Cost Estate, Isolo, expressed her challenges in coping with the situation. As a nursing mother, she frowns at the fact that the children are not giving her a breathing space.
“From morning till dawn, the children are climbing everything climbable, causing one to shout at intervals. However, I have devised a means of bringing them under control. I normally will give them assignments whenever they are getting out of hand. This is easy for me, because I have my education training as a teacher before going into business”, she said.
Another mother who is a broadcaster, Josephine Oshogwemoh, decried her frustrations about this prolonging situation of the lockdown.
“It is not easy coping with the situation. The children seem to talk more these days and eat more. Maybe due to idleness but the stress is much”, she said.
However, she engages the children with academic works and other home chores to reduce the stress.
“Overtime I give them some academic assignments and at some other I expose them to online learning” she asserted.
Mrs. Chinwe Oganeze, an educator, observed that her children eat more now than they used to before and are more restless. Nevertheless, even with all the challenges coming from staying at home all times, she derives joy with the bonding she is achieving with the children.
“The stress is much, the children eat more, ask more demanding questions and are generally disturbing, but the joy of it all is the bonding, having much more time with them which helps one to know them more”, she said.
While to some parents, one of the greatest challenges is to teach their own children, Mrs. Abiola Omosebi, a teacher with the Lagos State Ministry of Education, coping well as she sees this as a normal task.
“As a teacher, I have my ways of keeping the children busy and positively occupied. In the morning I get them to handle the devotion. After usual morning routines, I assign them academic works and in some cases house chores. Sometimes, when I am cooking I will get them to observe and learn how to cook. Besides, I leverage on the state radio lessons and ensure they follow the timetable, and before you know it the day is over”, she said confidently.
But there is no doubt the lockdown is like a calabash of many faces, with its positive sides being felt by many families. It has made it possible and mandatory for children to spend more time engaged in indoor activities.
Also, with the parents at home, it has greatly help parents and their children to improve the bonding in the family. While engaging in the same activity with the children can seem boring to some parents, it proving to some other parents a period to understand their children better, know their strengths and weaknesses, and further instill good habits, that are necessary, in them.
