Closures of early childhood education and care (ECEC) as well as schools increases work-family conflicts particularly for parents with younger children who are in more need of care and supervision of distance learning. School closures puts a strain on parents and guardians to provide childcare and manage distance learning while children are out of school. In the absence of alternative options, working parents often leave children alone when schools close and this can lead to risky behaviours, including increased influence of peer pressure and substance abuse. Alternatively, in some emerging economies, parents may resort to bringing their children to work and engaging them in menial labor, as has been the case in Maharashtra, India, where some out-of-school teenagers have been working in sugar cane fields alongside their day laborer parents.
In the United States, as of early April, more than half of existing childcare programs had shut down at least temporarily and were not serving any children.