The Reorganization of the Family Life With Children During Covid-19 Pandemic in Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the daily home life of families with school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also intends to problematize possible changes in the Brazilian children's routine due to the closure of schools and increased time at home. According to socio-humanist theoretical thinking, we analyzed the data through a critical-interpretative lens based on family life concepts. This paper presents part of the Brazilian results obtained through an online questionnaire, e-survey, in a public opinion format, using a quantitative and qualitative approach. Four hundred seventy-two families participated, mostly from cities in the state of São Paulo. The results indicate that the family structure followed the changes proposed by adults, who were protagonists in the domestic daily life transformed by the pandemic. In Freire's perspective, the changes indicated by the adults occurred through the expansion of children's proximity and recognition, in addition to the inclusion of school activities and re-creation of new educational forms in the routine, under several limitations. The household changes were permeated by understanding new configurations that established educational-dialogical-cooperative relationships between different members, children, and adults.