Changes in children’s rhythms of everyday life during the COVID-19 pandemic in a small town in the Prague metropolitan area

ABSTRACTThe restrictions imposed in response to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected people's everyday life, including those of children. For an extended period, children had to deal with the closure of schools and subsequent online teaching, which disrupted their daily rhythms. This study aimed to determine how children coped with the changes in the rhythms of their everyday life. This study provides insight into the diverse coping mechanisms employed by children during challenging times and highlights the importance of rhythm in establishing a sense of normalcy and stability in everyday life. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with children aged 12–17 years living in a small town in the Prague metropolitan area. The results show that the coping strategies adopted in response to the change in baseline rhythm varied greatly among children. Introducing new rhythms into everyday life was a long process, and some children tried to maintain the rhythms created even after returning to classroom teaching.KEYWORDS: Everyday lifechildrenrhythmPrague metropolitan areaCOVID-19 AcknowledgementsI thank Lucie Pospíšilová and Bertil Vilhelmson for their advice and helpful comments.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Leisure activities were organised by a group of volunteers who also used to participate in the group when they were children. The activities consist of regular meetings every week and weekend activities once every 14 days. The aim is to teach children how to behave and survive in nature.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the project "Grant Schemes at CU": [reg. no. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/19_073/0016935].