Back to School: The Effects of School Reopening on Parents and Children

On 15 April, over a few days, Danish schools partially reopened. Only children up until the 5th grade were allowed to return to school. We present results from a two‐wave panel survey collected for parents with children in the 4th to the 7th grade in the week that schools partially reopened (Wave 1, initial N = 1,303) and again 2 weeks after (Wave 2, initial N = 1,000 re‐interviewed). Using a difference‐in‐difference analysis, we compare parents with children below and above the cut‐off. We do not find major differences in how our outcomes of interest develop. Government support decreased slightly more for parents whose children stayed at home, but child well‐being, parental stress, and economic situation mostly evolved in parallel for the two groups of families. More research is warranted on the long‐term effects of school lockdowns and reopening under different social contexts.