In order to most adequately prepare a child for school life in the era of raging strains of coronavirus, a parent needs to be aware of their position in current social processes. An understanding is required that the state, in turn, carries out the necessary procedures to minimize infection while maintaining the normal functioning of society. Schools are one of those sub-state institutions that are inevitably affected by social upheavals. Parents are, in the case of the problem of the virus, a kind of layer between the child and society, since they are ultimately responsible for it. The state does not function according to the principle of providing individual psychological support, with the exception of cases requiring outside guardianship (Pavlovic et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important for parents to realize to what extent they play a decisive role in giving the child the necessary psychological attitudes.
The importance of the parental figure is also underlined by the marginalization of children that has emerged in a number of cases as a result of the breakthrough of the pandemic. The closure of schools and even social services significantly hinders not only the overall development of the child, but also the satisfaction of basic needs for communication (Adami & Dineen, 2021). Parents should give their child real empathic communication that he may sorely lack during a pandemic. At the same time, parents must prepare the child for the fact that even if schools open in September, school life will only remotely resemble the old one. Social conditions of existence are the primary problem that the pandemic uncovered. Based on this, it is not difficult to assume that for the youngest generation, the violated norms of socialization can be traumatic. Therefore, parents must not only follow the prescriptions for the necessary preventive measures, but also real psychological support and the ability to give the child that normal communication, the idea of which is currently distorted in society.
References
Adami, R., & Dineen, K. (2021). Discourses of childism: How Covid-19 has unveiled prejudice, discrimination and social injustice against children in the everyday. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 29(2), 353-370.
Pavlovic, A., DeFina, L., Natale, B., Thiele, S., Walker, T., Craig, D., Vint, G., Leonard, D., Haskell, W., & Kohl, H. (2021). Keeping children healthy during and after COVID-19 pandemic: meeting youth physical activity needs. BMC Public Health 21.