Parenting has never been easy - admit it. There are wonderful moments, and there are also ones which challenge you and perhaps even cause you to question the day you decided to become a parent. Kids will always keep you guessing and parenting will always have a new curveball to throw your way.

But we have never really experienced a curveball before that was quite like parenting in COVID-19, have we? Last year brought a whole new series of challenges, from home schooling while working from home to facing weeks of not being able to take the kids anywhere, to stretching clothes and budgets and patience levels to whole new definitions of thin.

In Australia we are hopefully moving out of COVID now, but what does that mean for us as parents? What does the new normal look like? How will we parent and co-parent in a world beyond the pandemic?

Parenting in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: Six ways that parenting is changing

1. More reliance online

Through 2020 we realised just how possible it was to work and attend school online and from home. So much so that we might wonder now why workplaces and educational bodies hadn’t instigated this sooner.

Now we know how well we can work and study from home, more of us will elect to do so. This will reduce commuting times and bring us out of the central part of the city and into our local hubs more. 

We can spend less time getting to and from work, which is better for the environment, our stress levels and our work-life-family balance.

2. More reliance on contact-free options

So many more small and medium businesses realised that they could switch to online services and contact-free options, and these will stay with us moving forward.

You will see this in terms of things like checking your children in and out of care, which can be done through apps, as well as communicating with your schools and childcare centres, receiving reports and assessments in entirely digital formats (and much more timely than before). 

We can be kept completely up to date with how our kids are going at school and in care, and we can let their educators know in real time what we need them to know to best help our kids. Parent/teacher conferences can remain online.

3. Less dependence on traditional roles

Most work roles can be completed from home, and more and more services are accessible online, meaning we will continue to move away from the traditional roles of the income earner working outside the home while a carer stays home with the children (usually reducing or giving up work). 

Covid has presented an opportunity whereby more time can be spent at home and for many this has created a better balance between the roles of income earners, homemakers and parents.

4.  Back to the basics

While everything is moving forward quickly digitally and online, at the same time we are moving back to the basics of parenting and managing family time.

During the pandemic, many of us turned to activities like puzzles, board games and cooking together as a family. Walks as a family to the local park took the place of gyms and play centres which were closed.

We started to communicate with our partners and kids again, and to rely on structures like timetables and routines to find wellness, consistency and stability, because the world outside our homes had become anything but stable.

5. Divorce and parenting plans

During the COVID pandemic, the majority of Family Law Court proceedings were conducted online through video conferencing. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent this will continue, but it is difficult to ignore some of the benefits remote hearings provide, particularly for people who have experienced domestic violence or abusive relationships where attendances at Court can be a difficult and emotionally challenging experience.

Parenting arrangements, property settlements and more can be maintained online, making them accessible to anyone with a vested interest, and able to be updated and communicated in real time.

6. Taking better care of our mental health

We got a rude shock last year learning just how stressful stress can really get. We realised just how essential mental health is, and how we need to look after it. We have learned new ways to step back from work, from commuting, from career advancement, and picked up new hobbies and new ways to chill out and be in the moment.

We have also gained a better understanding for our kids’ mental health, and for recognising that just because they are children, doesn’t mean they don’t get stressed when under pressure. We can be better equipped moving forward not only to look after our own mental health, but to also look after our kids’ as well.

Through COVID and beyond, we have all gained a greater understanding of what we can, and we can’t, do without. When pushed we know better now what our priorities need to be, and hopefully this will help us to be better parents and co-parents in the future.