COVID-19 and Parent-Child Interactions: Children’s Educational Opportunities and Parental Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease pandemic affected people’s lives in different ways, including child education and parent-child interactions. The present study aimed to identify the educational opportunities of children and challenges of parents during this pandemic. METHODS: This study was conducted using a qualitative and phenomenological method. The participants were 23 parents of children aged 7–12 years, selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation was reached, and then classified and processed following Strauss and Glasser’s approach. RESULTS: The findings were classified as parenting transformation, attachment challenges, and parenting challenges due to macro-systemic changes. Online education and changes caused by social distancing were the most significant parenting challenges. Moreover, children did not have the necessary space to be independent and self-sufficient. CONCLUSION: For many children, adapting to virtual education has been challenging; therefore, parents should change their parenting control and support. The emergence of such challenges has led to the creation of more opportunities in the field of child education.