Life is a balancing act for Elena Jennifer Montecalvo.
She’s a high school teacher and a mother of two. One of her children is on the autism spectrum.
Between her family’s needs and the recent negotiations with the government stemming from the public sector strikes, she was put on burnout leave.
“At the time it was just too much for me to handle all that stress, tension and everything that comes with being a high school teacher,” she said.
“And then coming home to my son’s meltdowns and having to be regulated for him, all while on my own, having my own mental health issues.”
She’s not alone.
More than 14,000 Quebec parents responded to a recent survey, conducted by the English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) and the Fédération des comités de parents in collaboration with the Université de Sherbrooke, that aimed at understanding the well-being of children and their parents.
From the pandemic to inflation and recent public sector strikes in the health and education sectors, it’s been a lot for families of school-aged children to deal with.
The survey found that children in elementary and high school classified as having special needs are two to three times more likely than others to have a low quality of life. Their parents are also almost twice as likely to report fair to poor mental health.
“It’s always the most vulnerable that are affected the most when there’s any type of disruption or crisis that happens, because you won’t have access to those services. And a special needs parent’s job, it’s just not easy. It’s never-ending, there’s no breaks in sight,” said Katherine Korakakis, EPCA president.
When looking at quality of life, there is a need for overall improvement.
The average score for participating children was 64, with a score of 100 indicating an excellent quality of life and a score below 50 indicating a low quality of life.
What emerged as a top concern for all parents, though, is the amount of time kids spend on screens.
According to Dr. Mélissa Généreaux, a public health physician and professor at Université de Sherbrooke, parents are right to be concerned.
“The kids who are using at least four hours a day a screen outside of the school, they are twice as likely to report a low quality of life as opposed to those who are not using the screen too many hours a day,” she said.
More specifically, heavy screen use can interfere with kids’ relationships with others.
“Kids who are great users of screens at home, they tend to play less with their friends and they also tend to report a lower level of energy,” Généreux said.
What’s more, Généreux explained, is that kids’ screen use increased for students affected by the strikes, with those kept out of the classroom the longest being the most affected.
“So we can see like this, potential impact of the duration of the strike on the increase in the screen time,” she said.
The 10-minute online survey was carried out from Jan. 16 to Feb. 2 and was open to all parents in Quebec with a child in primary or secondary school, on a voluntary and anonymous basis.
Korakakis said the survey, in many ways, confirmed what many already knew.
“Things are not going well.”
And she hopes parents’ voices will be heard.
“Someone has to listen that things are not going well. We have 14,000 parents, that’s not nothing,” she said.
Ultimately, though, it’s about starting a dialogue with policymakers and getting help to Quebec families who need it most.
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