Baz Ashmawy has admitted he feels he was “completely failing” as a parent trying to homeschool his children.
The TV presenter spoke candidly about his experience of teaching his kids during the coronavirus pandemic, admitting he found it to be “very stressful”.
Echoing the feelings of many parents around the country in an appearance on Claire Byrne Live this week, he said: “I just found it, those first few weeks... like I was completely failing as a parent.”
“There were other parents and they were asking for bigger workloads for the children and I was just in awe of that.”
“It wasn’t until I went on Instagram and I started ranting about it a bit that a load of teachers and a load of other parents got on board.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m just not coping with this’.
“So then all of a sudden I had to kind of prioritise what’s most important.
“And that was, regarding the younger ones, who are, like, seven and nine, is their kind of happiness, is their wellbeing.
The father of six added: “And for them not to be carrying anxiety over how many things they haven’t done on their list of work.
“[It] Is just keeping them upbeat. Once I kind of focused on that I didn’t feel as bad, because if you keep comparing yourself to other parents, you know?
“You’re not a teacher; you can only try your best.”
The RTE star added that technology has also been an issue as they have only two computers between the family.
He said: “Like, honestly. I’ve one child and she has dyspraxia in her hands, so she had a computer.
“But her sister didn’t. So her sister is borrowing my laptop, and now she has a PhD in just spilling crap everywhere!
“So I’m watching her use my laptop with all my work and everything in it... and it just wasn’t quite working.
“So we just had to change things a little to make it work for our family so it wasn’t as circumlunar based.”
