Understanding ‘Home’ in Covid Times – Exploring Children’s Experiences of Family Relationships in the Context of ‘Intensity of Togetherness’ and the ‘Isolation of Being Apart’

‘Home’ and ‘family’ are inextricably linked, never more so than during the Covid pandemic, when government restrictions controlled who we could see, when we could see them and for how long. We live our daily lives at ‘home’ often with family members, who can bring security, closeness, a sense of belonging and feelings of comfort, intimacy and positivity – although this is not the case for everyone, nor all of the time. Lockdown restrictions brought fundamental changes to our lives. In England they meant children learned online rather than attending school, while their parents worked from home and juggled home-schooling. The opportunity to go outside was restricted to essential journeys and at times, one period of daily exercise only. Children were unable to meet family members outside the ‘home’, unless they had separated parents and were moving between their homes, or their family circumstances meant they were able to form a ‘support bubble’ or ‘childcare bubble’. Consequently, in 2020 many months were spent together inside the home, bringing about a previously inexperienced ‘intensity of togetherness’ in family relationships alongside the ‘isolation of being apart’ from other family and friends. Using insights from the ‘framework for understanding children’s accommodation of parental separation’ (Kay-Flowers, 2019b) this concept paper explores how children may have experienced the ‘intensity of togetherness’ and the ‘isolation of being apart’ during the pandemic. As such, it provides a basis for further investigation into the impact of their experiences of ‘home’ and family relationships during this time.


Keywords: Children, family relationships, home, Covid, England