The Burden of Pandemic Life for Families With Young Children

Abstract

Abstract This chapter uses family systems theory to explain the burden of the pandemic on families with young children, particularly mothers. During COVID-19, mothers have been disproportionately overwhelmed with child care and schooling and have been forced to make difficult choices about their own careers. This has caused unprecedented instability within families, particularly for mothers of color. A family systems approach explores the processes by which parents and children operate and are interconnected within the family unit. Mothers and young children experience pandemic-related stressors within the family system and actively work as a unit to adapt and function within pandemic life. It is critical to understand these systems-level processes because pandemic-related chaos within the family unit has the potential for deleterious effects on mothers’ mental health and parenting capabilities. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, future research on children’s outcomes postpandemic must be situated within family systems-level processes to best understand how to support young children’s development and education within this uncharted context.