During the Covid-19 pandemic, an education based on autonomy promotes the well-being of children and their parents, a study reveals.
- Letting your child manage his school work independently during confinement promotes the well-being of the whole family, reveals the study.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular during the confinements, parents of children of pre-school and school age have had to overcome many challenges. Starting with that of occupying and instructing their children remotely, following the school program, while trying to telecommute themselves.
A new study, conducted by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (DIPF) and the Center for Research on Individual and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk (IDeA) in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), reveals that giving children a little more freedom in their school work is beneficial both for them and for their parents.
“We investigated whether or not autonomy-supportive parenting behavior would facilitate children’s adjustment and better well-being. We also investigated whether such parenting behavior contributes to creating a positive emotional climate that benefits to parents and children”explains Andreas B. Neubauer, co-author of the study published in the journal Child Development. According to him, the results show “autonomy-promoting parenting behavior is positively associated with both better child well-being and better satisfaction of parental needs”.
More autonomy for more serenity at home
To reach this conclusion, the researchers conducted a longitudinal study with 970 German parents during the first confinement, from the end of March to the end of April 2020, who answered an online questionnaire. 562 parents then agreed to enroll in the second part of the study.
It was then a question, for three consecutive weeks, of answering 21 daily questionnaires questioning them on the level of autonomy left to their child, on their parental behavior, on the extent to which their psychological needs were satisfied and on the level of well-being of their child. Finally, they received a final questionnaire to close the study.
The results show that letting your children do their school work remotely and independently is beneficial for the whole family and contributes to a more serene atmosphere. “Helping parents with their daily choices of parenting behavior could be an effective way to improve the family climate and the well-being of children in a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic”says Florian Schmiedek, professor and head of the cognitive development unit at the DIPF.
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