PARENTING
Parental Compassion Fatigue: Coping with kids and COVID By Annette Benedetti
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arenting through over a year of COVID shutdowns, quarantines and ever-changing restrictions was challenging for most parents. It meant extended stretches of time in intense parenting mode broken only by switching into teacher mode and sometimes counselor mode to help soothe children’s fears and anxieties. Even with school back in session, parents have a heavy load helping their young students readjust to in-person classes amidst the added fear of the COVID Delta variant. Caring for their young isn’t the only challenge Central Oregon parents are facing. Many are grappling with their own mental health.
What is Parental Compassion Fatigue?
According to a study published in Front Psychiatry, common stressors that impacted parenting during COVID-19 shutdowns were changes in children’s routines, worry about the virus and
online schooling demands. Unfortunately, this study also concluded that while parent stress increased substantially during COVID-19 shutdowns, it has not returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, which has some struggling with a condition called parental compassion fatigue. Two identifiers that set parental compassion fatigue apart from other anxiety disorders and depression are that parents report feeling both emotionally exhausted themselves and detached from their children’s emotions. There can even be a feeling of apathy toward their children’s feelings.
Signs & Symptoms
Joella Long, licensed marriage and family therapist and owner of Cascadia Family Therapy in Bend, says, “Deeper contributing factors to parental compassion fatigue are when parents have a job or other family member that requires caregiving. For instance,” she explains, “if you are caring for an aging parent or work as a nurse or teacher during the day, it can be hard to find more compassion to offer at home.” Long also says that the lack of basic self-care, like regularly missing sleep, meals and showering, as well as forgoing one’s
for Avoiding and Recovering from Compassion Fatigue The following are some things that you can do to both avoid and recover from compassion fatigue: 1. Focus on sleep: Make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Rest is important, even if you don’t sleep well. 2. Nutrition: Look into your eating habits. Make sure your meals are packed with plenty of nutritious proteins, veggies and fruits. 3. Take Five!: It doesn’t sound like a lot but find time throughout the day to take five minutes to yourself. 20 | BendNest.com
