Schools shutting down due to COVID have been hard on both parents and students. Balancing life and work right now is a lot harder, and there is constant worry that the child is not learning as they would in person, despite online classes.

And the worry is rational -- online classes have made many things easier, but it has also brought new stress to the front.

The lack of physical interaction, and the stress of not seeing their friends physically is high among children and adolescents even more so than adults, putting a lot of undue stress on them, and that is not all of it.

There is also the issue of a new learning environment. Most students are not familiar with online learning, and this too is extremely stressful. They have been transferred from years of traditional schools to online classes, and it takes time to adapt to the differences.

In these times it is easy for a student to get demotivated and fall behind. It is important for parents to make sure that their child learns even during the pandemic, and creating a better learning environment is essential.

With physical classes not possible anytime soon, constant support from parents is a must, so that the student can do the best they can while facing less pressure.

Here are some simple steps parents can take to make students’ learning environment as good as it can be:

Maintaining breaks

We like to think of the learning process as working hard all the time and getting good results afterwards, but that is not all there is to it. Research has shown that breaks play a key role in actual understanding, and also help increase student attention in classes. Breaks where students are active are even more important to developing a well rounded personality. For students learning at home, taking proper active breaks from learning is difficult, and parents must encourage them to go out and about - get moving during breaks between classes.

Encourage video chats with friends

During these times, the only physical interaction children get are ones at their home. Not having casual interactions with friends, especially at these ages, might have adverse effects on their personality. Video chats are often the closest thing to seeing someone in person, and are a great way to get in social time without endangering yourself or others. Parents should encourage their children to interact via videos, and not only texts so that the stress of constant online classes are relieved, and they get the much needed casual time that they need.

Using Digital Learning Platforms like Veda

Veda makes many unintuitive hassles extremely easy. Tracking links, homeworks and assignments, routines, notices add extra pressure on students which can get overwhelming pretty fast, and affect their learning in class.

Features of the app, such as Zoom integration and notifications make attending classes as easy as tapping one quick button. The app also makes the parent’s job easier, as tracking their child’s progress is a lot easier and intuitive, all at the palm of their hands. Veda’s e learning platform also aids in engaging study materials with MCQ’s, and learning becomes enjoyable rather than tedious. Veda removes undue stress and helps the children cope with many aspects of online learning much faster, while having fun at the same time.

Veda manages to be the software for montessori, schools and college students integrating all digital needs in one place and accessible anytime.  Communication between the school and the parent is also easy and intuitive, which aids the learning process further.

Schedule family and fun time

It is important to remember that children are children after all, and hours of learning will lead to mental fatigue.

The lockdown has been hard even to parents, but family time, a time when everyone actually sits together and interacts can provide children reassurance and much needed comfort.

A little friendliness goes a long way, especially since they can’t physically meet their friends. Making time for silliness and fun through indoor games also helps relieve the stress (for the parents too!)

The lockdown has been hard to everyone, even to children who have had to live in an extremely unfamiliar situation.

Continuing learning is extremely important at this time in order to tackle the rebuilding process up ahead. And doing that requires a sound learning environment.

Creating this environment contributes not only to learning but also to makes children well rounded, in times where doing that is difficult.