Working from home in COVID-19 era...Experiences of parents

Some parents who have had to combine parenting duties with working from home, have expressed the hope that such a situation does not happen again as ‘‘the past weeks have been stressful and challenging’’.

The situation, they said, was like having multiple jobs and tackling all of them at the same time with no breaks.

Aside from that, distractions from children affected efficient and effective output.

With COVID-19 restrictions, which include the closing of schools across the country, many parents have had to work from home and have no choice but to combine their duties as mothers and full-time professionals simultaneously.

While most of them said they were happy to have had more time to spend with their children during the period “we do not want it to be an everyday affair as it is almost impossible to meet deadlines at the office,” a couple told the Daily Graphic.

“It’s been a challenging combination. My children, who are aged six years and three years, do not understand that their dad and I are working from home and want attention all the time. The moment we try to get on the laptop to work, they begin to do things to get our attention.

“We have had to schedule our times such that at a given time, one of us is off work in order to be with them. It’s not been easy combining these two which are both full-time jobs. I have always appreciated what teachers have to go through and now I do even more, it’s a tough job controlling children,” another said.

Worn out

A Personal Assistant at the Amenuveve Company Limited, dealers in fish and poultry products in Tema, Mrs Sharon Bedzra, a mother of one, said she had to leave her son with his grandparents at times before going to work, but the reports she usually got from them was that they were worn out.

“My parents run around the house, trying to get him to sit and eat, he goes to their dressing mirror and messes their room up, especially when they are not watching, they sometimes leave the mess for me to come and see when I get back to pick him” she said.

Vacation period

A Marketing Executive of a hotel in Accra said with the hospitality industry temporarily closed due to the pandemic, she had expressed the hope to enjoy the period as an extended vacation but she ended up being more tired.

“I had to cook three times a day for nine people as I have three children and also I had to take in my niece and two nephews because their parents are both doctors and frontline workers.

“With their ages between five and 12, it has been cooking, cleaning up and settling sibling fights with barely much time for myself.

A fashion designer and mother of two who works from home at Bubiashie, Mrs Teresa Sackey, said she psyched herself up once the schools closed and regarded her kids being at home as a vacation period.

“My children are learning from some kids educational videos recommended by their teachers every day, they also have quite a number of homework from school, so we work on that on a daily basis, and they have their play time too,” she said.

Increased spending

Inasmuch as women appeared to be the most affected, some men also felt they had spent more on food items at home than the usual school days.

A Graphic Designer at B&H Printing Press at Bubiashie, Mr Emmanuel Nyarko, said he had to spend more money at home as compared to when his kids were at school.

“My daughter and son are now home, eating every morning, afternoon, evening, and having snacks in between. When they were going to school, it wasn’t like this, but now I have to increase the family’s monthly spending budget, it’s taking a toll on my income,” he said.

Another parent, Kofi Sam, admitted that the intervention from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to absorb water and part of the cost of electricity bills was a welcome relief as his teenage children at home had increased and were always engaged in activities that consumed power.

The children, he stated, were either on their phones for school work, watching television or playing music all of which involved using power and data.

“ I was worried the electricity bills were going to increase our budget only for the President to come out with the relief package’’.