Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The recent COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan that has forced people to stay at home is affecting the relationships between Taiwanese parents and their children, with more than half of parents feeling negative emotions, a survey has found.
Half (51.4 percent) of the parents surveyed admitted to feeling negative emotions because of the increased time spent parenting since a Level 3 COVID-19 alert was issued in mid-May, according to the results of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families survey released Wednesday.
The survey found that parents were spending an average of seven more hours per day with their children since schools were closed and companies started having employees work at home under the Level 3 alert.
Under such circumstances, the longer parents were with their children, the more likely they were to feel negative emotions, survey data showed.
At the same time, a higher percentage of women than men had negative feelings because they usually spend more time with their children at home.
Those negative emotions tended to manifest themselves in parent-child relationships during the Level 3 alert.
Some 53.3 percent of parents surveyed said they have had more conflicts with their children while schools have been closed than before the alert took affect, and 31.8 percent have scolded their kids over disagreements, the survey found.
That may explain why parenting issues were among the top concerns voiced by survey respondents.
Parents' own health and the health of their families was their top concern, but parenting issues such as "having no idea how to arrange activities for kids at home" (mentioned by 33.8 percent of respondents) and "no idea how to help children advance in their studies" (25.3 percent) came next, the survey found.
Despite the stress some parents are feeling, just over two-thirds, or 67.8 percent, of the respondents planned to deal with their negative feelings on their own, while fewer than 20 percent said they would seek outside help, according to the survey.
Taiwan Fund for Children and Families worker Chou Ta-yao (周大堯) warned that worsening parent-child relationships during the outbreak could trigger more domestic abuse of youngsters, and Chou urged parents to try to stay poised when dealing with their children at home.
Citing statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Chou said that in 2020, 83,108 child and teenager abuse cases were reported to relevant authorities, a 12 percent increase over the 2019 number.
As most of the cases were reported by the children's schools, there were concerns that not only more youngsters might be abused because they were not in school but that those cases might not be noticed, Chou explained.
The foundation also called on parents to seek assistance through either government or NGO platforms as necessary to help protect children who need help.
