Identifying some positive experiences for our children as a result of the pandemic

COVID-19 gifted us with the ability to spend more time with loved ones, including our children. For many Australian families, this was a gift; for others, it was an obstacle too great.

Whether it be parents working from home or children adjusting to home-schooling, we have all been given a valuable lesson in flexibility and resilience.

The things we’ve all worried about

Many parents have expressed concern over the cost of school shutdown on their child’s education.

They worry about their inability to socialise with classmates or participate in organised sports and extracurricular activities.

It is obvious that families have had to turn to unconventional methods to foster their child’s development, and it is important to consider the ways COVID-19 has provided our children with a range of compelling life experiences that no classroom lesson can imitate.

Coronavirus won’t be a history lesson for your kids – it will be a lived experience

Rather than reading history books, our children have watched firsthand, the world responding to a pandemic that will form part of our day-to-day life in the future.

They have witnessed the power of the State and its ability to restrain many of our basic freedoms (designed with public health first in mind). They have also witnessed the power of shared action and observed what can be achieved when communities work together.

Closer to home, the shutdown has provided children with the opportunity to see parents or carers prove abilities such as ingenuity, innovation, change, care and strength. Many children will have had the opportunity for the first time to join their Mums and Dads in preparing meals and in daily tasks around the home. Each experience is a chance to encounter a valuable, real-life lesson often rarely experienced pre-pandemic.

Lived experience delivers incredible benefit

While this has been a time of understandable worry and concern for many of us, it is important to note the value this experience may deliver with lifelong memories for our children. So much of what we revere and treasure as adults are created by the memories of our childhood and adolescence. The lockdown period, in that respect, offered opportunity in a way that could not be replicated in a classroom and should not be underestimated or overlooked.

At Meillon & Bright Legal, through our work with many families, we have heard firsthand how people have coped with COVID-19. Unfortunately, for many, it has been a tipping point that has caused conflict and distress in families that resulted in a greater need for our services. For others, it has been a time of family growth and development.