Activities with Kids
Parenting Trends of 2022 You Need To Know About
Eloise Edington | 18 Jan 2022
The pandemic has shifted the way many of us live, work and learn so it’s no surprise parenting trends for 2022 reflect this “new normal” – to use a term we heard far too much in 2021…
As ever, FHH is on-top of current trends and looking at popular parenting movements for the coming year. Here, we take a close look and dissect why these parenting proclivities are set for 2022.
Read on to find out common parenting trends for 2022.
Written by Holly Pigache
Balancing Parental Leave
There’s been a lot of WFH over the past two years. Whilst Zoom calls with the kids in the background have caused as much amusement for onlookers as stress for working parents, spending more time at home with the kids has brought so much joy. Traditional (antiquated?) family set-ups of the father going to work and the mother looking after the house and childcare have been evolving for some time but the pandemic cast into focus much of what the stay-at-home parent does. Layer-on home-schooling and the family living in the house 24/7, that’s a lot of household and child management.
Perhaps, as a result, fathers are seeking better parental benefits at work like more paternity leave or a hybrid working model. Some advocates are working towards a more balanced parental leave (rather than solely maternity or paternity leave), such as Sweden’s system whereby each parent is eligible for 240 days’ leave (solo parents are entitled to 480 days’ parental leave).
Getting Out and Doing Things
Midnight feasts, picnics under the kitchen table, using all those Amazon boxes to build a castle, sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags. What other activities did you do at home to keep kids amused during the lockdowns and you from going stir-crazy?
Fortunately, with socialising and hospitality back on the agenda (for now…), parents are keen to experience things with their children – beyond the kitchen and TV room.
Experiences also bring us together after various lockdowns. Instead of giving material things (which could be enjoyed at home whilst stuck inside), experiential gifts are popular amongst parents in 2022. The book you bought Jamie about Mary Anning over lockdown might have sparked his interest in fossils but a visit to the museum could inspire Jamie to become a palaeontologist…
Kids’ Mental Health
As a former primary teacher, I’m confident we’ve barely seen the surface of the impact lockdown will have had on children. And I’m not just talking about the children who have challenging lives. Children in the happiest of homes missed out on social interactions and key developmental milestones and we’ll feel the repercussions of this in years to come.
So, understandably, there’s a big push to advocate for children’s mental health. Many schools and local authorities are working hard to support the mental health of kids (budget-dependent, sadly) whilst catching up on lost learning.
With this comes screen time. In many households, limits to the number of hours kids were “plugged in” were abandoned – “Let’s just get through the day!” but with normal life returning, those pre-pandemic rules are creeping back.
Whilst I advise parents to be mindful of the amount of time their children are using the Internet, a more proactive and modern approach is for parents to understand how their children engage with the digital world yet not encroach on their privacy. More on this in a future article, I reckon.
Honest Parenting
During the pandemic, parents flocked to social media for support and to showcase the highs and lows of parenting during Covid. This trend is set to continue with parents in all guises sharing the realities of raising kids. Filtered life became uninteresting and seemed deceitful when we were all in our tracksuit bottoms, hair shoved into a bun (because it could do with a wash) and with a face that hadn’t seen make-up for months. All parents know how fabulous and how awful it can be. In 2022, we’re staying true to ourselves and to others.
Who knows what this coming year will bring; new waves of Covid, more booster jabs – please no more lockdowns.
But we’re excited to see such positive parenting trends coming to the fore this year and look forward to seeing the impact this has on our children’s lives.
