Trends, truths and tales from UAE families as they navigated life during COVID-19 1 of 27 COVID-19 has affected everyone’s lives, but it is perhaps parents whose worlds were rocked the most by the novel coronavirus. With schools and nurseries closed, mums and dads were promoted to makeshift teachers overnight, forcing them to juggle home-learning duties with their own sudden work-from-home status, on top of the manifold domestic tasks involved in raising a family. Image Credit: Supplied 2 of 27 Meanwhile for couples who were just starting a family, all pregnancy dreams and plans flew out of the window, as maternity wards tightened restrictions, grandparents-to-be cancelled flights, baby showers and antenatal classes went virtual, and pregnant women were classed as vulnerable and advised to self-isolate at all times. Thousands of families struggled on reduced or lost incomes, dealt with sickness at home or abroad, and worried about or grieved the loss of loved ones from afar.