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Comment by sufehmi | Hacker News Reader

Yup, COVID-19 shows me something that I have suspected all along - a LOT of parents are not comfortable to be with their OWN children.

Because schools are closed, parents have to be with their children all the time

A lot of them are really, really stressed out because of this.

Which begs the question - why the fuck did you bother to have kids then?

Children are blessings from heaven. If they can not see it that way, then they should free themselves from that and chose not to have kids instead

Mind blowing

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Are you a parent?

I really don't think humans evolved to have a nuclear family with no external support from grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbours, etc. We also have a scenario where children have been robbed of their independence (suburban design patterns, dangerous drivers, fearmongering on the news about child molesters, etc.) - so you can't just shove your 5 year old out the front door at 9 AM and tell them to come back for lunch.

I would _much_ rather watch my kids and my nieces and nephews for half a day, then trade, than watch my kids all day long. It's utterly grueling.

Well the COVID situation was pretty unique in that people were confined at home. This easily translates into a prison-like mentality (or submarine-like, another very stressful environment).

Prior to the helicopter parenting era, kids would spend whole days playing outside unless the weather was bad. This gave everyone some breathing space, kids and parents alike.

I, the perfect dad, absolutely 100% expected that my children would have to stay confined in our house 24/7 with no school, no outside activity (and I'm fortunate enough to have a small lawn), practically no outside contact, all while having to do my job and do my best to raise and keep them occupied.

Also, I'm absolutely not worried about their own well-being, or lack of social interactions, or even the constant loss of bearings, or if they themselves worry about how their parents are doing.

Human children, like most other social primates, have evolved to do best when raised by an extended family unit. In modern societies we have replaced the extended family (tribe) with daycare and schooling, and in some cases, communal areas such as parks.

Without the interaction of other adults and children, children get quickly bored and require much more attention than a couple let alone a single individual can provide.

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