Counselor gives advice to parents who are struggling at home with their families

ATLANTA — Some parents are struggling with their new normal trying to juggle virtual learning and their own careers during this pandemic.

Louise Finley, a counselor and mother in Atlanta, has some advice for parents to get them ready for the new school year.

“I know in our home there was a set structure that we had gotten used to and that’s off the table now,” Finley said.

Some parents are overwhelmed because they have tough decisions to make, like how to keep their job since a parent has to be home with the children for virtual learning, or do they send their children back to school for in-person learning?

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“Some anxieties about how am I going to get my work done, anxieties about if I don’t have alone time, how am I going to take care of myself?” Finley said. “If I take a pause on my career now what does that mean for down the road? If you’re a woman and you just reached a milestone in your career, what comes next?”

This is the new normal, according to Finley, and each family should weigh all of their options and possible solutions as a family. Stress management is key.

“Parents can look at their value as a family, like what is the value here? Maintaining this career path I’m on or how much income we need right now,” Finley said. “Kind of like, ‘How did I manage a career transition in the past, how did that work for me then?‘”

Finley said it is important for parents who are working from home to reach out to single parents and offer support, such as smaller education clusters.

Metro Atlanta football player loses both parents to COVID-19 complications days apart Channel 2's Michael Seiden talked to 17-year-old Justin Hunter, who lost his parents, Eugene and Angie Hunter, last week.

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