Dr. Ketoki Mazumdar
@tiss.edu
Assistant Professor, School of Human Ecology
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Ketoki Mazumdar, Sneha Parekh, and Isha Sen
Wiley
Ketoki Mazumdar, Sneha Parekh, and Isha Sen
Frontiers Media SA
IntroductionWith the global crisis of COVID-19 continuing, Indian mothers have not received adequate attention with respect to their challenges and mothering experiences. The current study explored mindful parenting practices in a cohort of Indian mothers of children aged 10 years and below that emerged in response to the challenges posed by COVID-19.MethodsIn-depth virtual interviews were conducted with 31 urban Indian mothers to explore their lived experiences of mothering during the global crisis and their engagements with mindful parenting practices. The data were thematically analyzed.Results and DiscussionThe study identified two overarching themes and nine subthemes. The first theme, pandemic-induced stress, included the sub-themes of increased workload, poor support system, lack of time for self, and emotional and physical distress. The second theme of mindful parenting included the sub-themes of awareness as a mother and around the child, acceptance toward self and the child, empathic understanding of self and the child, active engagement with the child, and emotional regulation. Increased workload on all fronts coupled with poor support and a lack of time for self-contributed to exacerbated emotional and physical stress in mothers. They addressed these concerns posed by their lived experiences by engaging in mindful parenting processes in their mothering practices. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness-based parenting techniques could be explored as possible interventions for mothers to alleviate their distress while drawing attention to larger structural changes and policy-level interventions addressing social issues such as gender inequality and childcare concerns.
Ketoki Mazumdar
Intellect
Motherhood during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought forward a host of parenting challenges to the forefront and crystallized the already existing invisible workload and stress on mothers. With the usual support system in the form of schools, day-care, extra-curricular activities all vanishing overnight since March 2020, the process of mothering has been affected with higher physical and emotional labour and a greater responsibility for managing care of the children and household while playing a multitude of roles – mother, partner, guardian, friend, employee and employer – ensuring everyone is safe! Unfortunately, the pandemic has adversely affected professionally employed mothers around the world, often making them rethink their careers with the increase in overall workload and juggling the demands of work and childcare and household chores. This chapter is an endeavour using an autoethnographic method towards understanding the lived experiences of performing motherhood through the eyes of an Indian academic mother. As an academic mother, there have been challenges towards dedicatedly engaging with teaching online, learning, research and publishing, and productivity demands while actively mothering a young child and making sure the house runs like clockwork, all played out in the unfamiliar ground of pandemic survival. Even though there have been advances made in the current Indian sociocultural landscape, there are still tropes of patriarchy present within the system, which further exacerbates the mothering challenges. Using a social-constructionist lens, this personal account will present a slice of change within the traditional Indian family system through the lens of gender equality – equal parenting and shared responsibility within the household. Along with this, how building elements of self-compassion and mindfulness practices in the author’s daily routine aided in skilfully manoeuvring the grips of COVID-19 fatigue will also be presented. I hope this personal narrative will extend support to fellow Indian academic mothers towards advocating for more structural changes both within themselves, while highlighting the need for self-care and grace as well as within their homes towards a more balanced and shared responsibility of performing motherhood through the pandemic.
Ketoki Mazumdar, Isha Sen, and Sneha Parekh
Informa UK Limited
Ketoki Mazumdar, Isha Sen, and Sneha Parekh
Elsevier BV
Ketoki Mazumdar, Isha Sen, Pooja Gupta, and Sneha Parekh
Hogrefe Publishing Group
Abstract This study explored the associations among psychological well-being (PWB), self-compassion, psychological inflexibility (PI), and parenting stress (PS) in 242 urban Indian mothers of children 10 years old and younger in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regression analysis revealed that greater self-compassion (SC), less PS, and greater psychological flexibility were associated with psychological well-being among the participants. Findings from this study contribute to research on maternal mental health by showing that, even in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, SC, PI, and PS are related to the PWB of urban Indian mothers, thus highlighting a need for evolving gender-based policies and emphasizing specific interventions for this vulnerable population.