Addressing the most pressing issues of parents these days
These are unprecedented times. In New York City, the largest school district in the United States, it is still unclear how the school year of 2020–2021 would look like.
As a mother residing in the city I felt the stress and uncertainty regarding the upcoming school year becoming a real thing. As always, I knew this is not only my problem. I have decided to join forces with a local doer and executer from my neighborhood, and try and use our skill sets to help our community in any way possible.
As time is of the essence, we knew that addressing those issues required us to be able to clearly define the motivations, frustrations, and needs of families.
In the past two weeks, along with a team of three talented UX designers who felt committed to this mission, we talked with anyone who was willing to talk: Parents working full time, parents who are essential workers, parents who have kids with disabilities, and parents who have the “luxury” of being out of work right now.
Parenting is a balancing act
The one thing all interviewees agreed upon, is the worrying state of kids’ social-emotional skills development in a time when human interactions became a risk factor for public health.
Parents feel that Remote Learning is not effective or healthy for their kids' development. After about 4 months of trying, parents understand, now more than ever, the importance of social engagement with other kids of similar ages is for their kids to develop healthily.
In a survey we conducted, which included 84 participants, we asked parents what their primary goals are when searching for activities for their children these days. 87% stated that having their kids interact with other children of similar ages is a primary goal, while (only) 34% mentioned supplementing academics.
With that goal in mind, parents are also concerned about COVID risks and are thinking of ways to lower the risk of infection, while still allowing that interaction: forming small and consistent groups of 4–5 children of similar ages, spending as much time as possible outside, making sure kids and adults in their germ-circle regularly wash hands, etc.
Having said that, different parents have different levels of comfort, so in their balancing act, they prefer various levels of cautiousness.
For example, when we asked parents about the usage of masks in outdoors activities, responses were varied:
The Challenges of pods
As many parents show interest in forming those small pods as a solution for the upcoming fall, the grand majority doesn’t have the experience or the knowledge (not to mention the time) it takes to create a solution that effectively meets their kids' needs.
Not all families are alike
The first barrier is forming the pod. “You need to know who you’re dating”, as one parent wisely put it: parents look for other families who share the same educational approach and standards of safety before committing to a small group activity, and that’s not an easy task.
While we’ve witnessed dozens of parents posting about their desire to form a pod in the local designated Facebook group, not many have had success in doing so yet. Finding the right combo of families takes time and effort that not everyone has.
Parents are not teachers
The second barrier is to curate and facilitate children’s activities. Parents are not teachers and feel that they lack the necessary expertise for those tasks. Only a few parents we interviewed had any experience with organizing kids' activities other than playdates. Most parents prefer having such activities facilitated by an education expert.
What’s next?
In the upcoming week, I would be holding ideation sessions with the design team, to come up with creative concepts and ideas to solve these problems.
Stay tuned.