‘Going to implode’: Parents at wits’ end over schools being closed until September with mothers hardest hit

‘School is a distant memory. All their emotional, educational and physical development is being stalled. I’m feeling very lethargic and flat,’ one tells Maya Oppenheim

There is anger at the prospect of pubs and bars opening while schools stay closed and childcare options remain non-existent (Getty/iStock)

Parents are at their “wits’ end” over the prospect of juggling childcare and work with schools remaining closed until September, and mothers are hardest hit, campaigners warned.

Women with children facing burnout due to taking on the bulk of childcare and homeschooling during lockdown voiced anger that pubs, shops and restaurants were reopening while schools, nurseries and childcare providers stayed shut.

Some parents have been forced to quit their jobs or cut their working hours to be able to cope with childcare during the coronavirus crisis – with the situation predicted to worsen as more employers demand people return to work as lockdown eases.

While the Office for National Statistics estimates there are around 8 million families with dependent children in the UK, studies demonstrate women often shoulder the burden of high childcare costs, and mothers more frequently stop working to care for children.

Hannah Graham, who coordinates a group of 239 single parents in Cheshire, told The Independent they were massively frustrated by the closure of schools and childcare providers.

Ms Graham, a single mother who lives with her two children, said: “Parents have said they have done 12 weeks of lockdown and now they have been asked to do another 12 weeks until schools open and they’ve reached their limit. They feel like they are going to implode.

“The homeschooling is a day-by-day frustration. It is like banging your head against a brick a wall. Homeschooling is exhausting. There are lots of people feeling down and anxious and confused. It feels like everyone else is getting on with it but we are trapped. Adults can be deprived of shops, restaurants and pubs but we should not deprive children of things.

“I strongly believe all the children should be back in schools, nurseries and childcare providers. We are trying to control a virus so much so that kids aren’t in school yet we open pubs and restaurants. Society is supported by children being in school so if children aren’t in school everything else falls down. It is like a domino effect. There are so many people who can’t do anything because the kids are at home. 90 per cent of the group are women.”

Ms Graham said her own children were starting to “shut down” during the coronavirus crisis – explaining they have become “acclimatised to isolation” and have stopped calling their friends or talking about them or school.

“For children, three months is a long time,” she added. “School is a distant memory. All their emotional, educational and physical development is being stalled. I’m feeling very lethargic and flat. I’m getting up and going through each day and going to bed. There isn’t anything to look forward to. It’s the day in day out feeling. We are suspended in mid-air. We don’t know what schools will look like. We don’t know what the new normal will be and how society will recover. I feel numb. I keep waking up periodically in the night. I’ve had four or five hours’ sleep a night this week.”

Ms Graham said a single mother she knows who is an NHS worker was forced to take annual leave to reduce her hours to cope with childcare responsibilities. The woman has now run out of annual leave so has been told to take a career break, which is “essentially an unpaid sabbatical” and come back when she has got her “childcare sorted out”, she added.

A recent report by London School of Economics found women are more likely to deal with homeschooling, childcare and chores around the house, even if they are having to juggle this with formal work.

Joe Levenson, of Young Women’s Trust, a charity which helps women on low or no pay, told The Independent: “With continued school closures many parents are anxious about the lack of childcare options, which will continue over the summer holidays. Much relied on childcare from grandparents and other family and friends is still not an option and many holiday clubs are also likely to be closed. This is leaving exhausted working and non-working parents without a lifeline as the summer stretches ahead of them.

“Many parents – in particular women – will be left wondering what this summer break means for their jobs. Will their employer be understanding? Will they have to cut their hours at work? And what does that mean for their finances? Sadly the end of this predicament is not in sight either. With no news about what school will look like come September, it is leaving many anxious about what the future holds for them and their children.”

The government previously announced primary school children could start going back to classrooms from 1 June and secondary schools would start reopening from 15 June but then performed a U-turn – with schools not properly reopening until September now and far less primary schools opening than expected.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of leading gender equality charity, The Fawcett Society, told The Independent the shutting of schools and nurseries will have a “significant and adverse impact” on mothers’ ability to take part in the labour market and their “earning power”.

“Early signs are that many summer childcare clubs will also be unable to run this year,” she added. “There is still no strategy in place to get all children back to school from September and no support has been provided for the childcare sector as we face the loss of 150,000 childcare places. We face a crisis of maternal employment and a widening gender pay gap. Government must urgently address that.”

Victoria Benson, chief executive of leading single parent charity Gingerbread, who is a single parent with six children herself, told The Independent single parents have been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: “Despite lockdown starting to ease life hasn’t got any easier for them. Many have seen their incomes drop and their household costs rise due to having children at home. With shops, restaurants and businesses starting to open their doors many single parents will be called back to work but without access to childcare, they simply won’t be able to go. This puts them at risk of losing their jobs or forces them to resign, leading to more financial hardship and additional stress and anxiety.

“The government needs to properly consider the needs of single parents and to ensure their jobs are protected while they have to look after their children at home. Without childcare, single parents simply cannot work and if they can’t work more children will end up living in poverty.”

A report by UCL Institute of Education released earlier in the week found more than 2 million children have done almost no schoolwork at home during the Covid-19 crisis.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of Early Years Alliance, which represents nurseries, pre-schools and registered childminders, said: “The sector is in crisis and fighting for its survival, and the reality is that the collapse of the childcare sector would have a hugely disproportionate effect on women. Ninety-seven per cent of the early years workforce are women and their jobs and livelihoods are at risk as a result of the government’s failure to take leadership and provide the transitional funding the sector needs to survive.

“Without serious financial support, the quality and availability of early years education in this country is at risk, which is hugely damaging not only to the majority of the early years workforce but also to women who rely on quality childcare provision for their children.”