Parenting Experiences under Ongoing Life-threatening Conditions of Missile Attacks

The current study focuses on parental experiences in the presence of their children, during ongoing stressful events resulting from missiles attacks. The findings further elucidate the mechanisms through which parenting is impacted by exposure to mass conflict. Semistructured in-depth interviews were held with 40 parents, 30 women and 10 men, from different families, between the ages of 28 and 45. All of the participants had been living approximately 10 km from the Gaza Strip border for more than two years, residing either in rural communities or in the city of Sderot, and all reported being exposed to life-threatening situations of missiles attacks. Data were structured around three themes: (1) parental feelings of losing control, (2) parental coping methods of restoring control, and (3) parental self-perception as child protector. Results demonstrate the need for greater acknowledgement of parent-informed interventions that could give them a partial feeling of restoring their parental sense of control. Such challenges could be addressed by parenting guidance, to reduce the impact of trauma experienced by children.