Rainbows in the windows: collecting oral testimonies from parents with young families in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr Alison Chand

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of young families in the UK in an unprecedented way. Lockdown, and the beginnings of the UK’s emergence from it, has fundamentally affected the everyday lives of parents and children. This talk examines preliminary findings from a series of oral history interviews undertaken throughout lockdown with the aim of developing an understanding of how parents of young children have navigated the lockdown and its immediate aftermath. Dr Chand describes how interviewees depicted changes to their working patterns, social activities, and their children’s education, and how they presented the impact on their physical and mental health. As the oral history interviews have been, and continue to be, recorded remotely over the telephone, Dr Chand also discusses the implications of remote interviewing for oral history methodology.

This talk took place on Thursday 8th October, 2020. You can view a recording below:

Children in lockdown 2020 (photo by Alison Chand).