Parenting can be hard at the best of times, let alone during a pandemic.
World-leading parenting expert Professor Matthew Sanders from UQ’s Parenting and Family Support Centre has been a trusted voice for reliable and actionable advice to help families through these challenging times.
A podcast and 7TWO TV series hosted by Professor Sanders are part of a Parenting in a Pandemic program for parents covering a range issues including taking care of your physical and mental health, dealing with difficult emotions, working longer hours in the home office and financial stress.
“Since COVID-19 upended family life, parents have dealt with issues on a magnified level and some they mightn’t have experienced before,” Professor Sanders said.
“Our main aim for the program is to provide a starting point for parents to look after themselves, treat themselves kindly and make their family the priority in these uncertain times.
“In the podcast and 7TWO TV series parents share their concerns, guest speakers speak on timely and relatable topics and we share practical tips to help manage the whole families’ mental and physical wellbeing.”
Hundreds of thousands of parents across Australia have downloaded episodes from the 19-part podcast series and 12-part 7TWO series.
“We know many parents are still feeling the pandemic stress, so we are hoping to reach more families to provide them with information on current issues such as modelling culturally-sensitive behaviour, helping children with diverse needs and protecting children from harm.”
As part of the Parenting in a Pandemic program, there are two surveys the research team are using to evaluate the effectiveness of the Parenting in a Pandemic podcast and television series.
If you’re a parent of a child between two and 16 years old you can download the Parenting in a Pandemic resources and take part in the evaluation study here.
Parenting in a Pandemic Program is led by Professor Sanders, with the support of Associate Professors Karen Turner, Vanessa Cobham, and Alina Morawska from the UQ’s Parenting and Family Support Centre in UQ’s School of Psychology.
The team is working in partnership with industry partners including Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women, Queensland Health, Uniting Care, Logan Together, Triple P International and UniQuest.
