'The teachers are fighting for our kids': Que. parents juggle childcare, work amid strikes

Strikes: Parents scrambling to keep kids busy Quebec parents share how they’re coping amid the ongoing teacher strikes.

With Quebec teachers on strike, parents are scrambling to keep their children busy -- and working parents are especially busy trying to balance their responsibilities.

"I love our teachers, and having my children home for those few weeks, I see even more [how] valuable they are," parent Alexa Azran told CTV News.

Azran has two boys at École Gardenview School in Saint-Laurent. She says she's having trouble keeping them occupied even when she works from home.

Trying to keep up with school work, Azran prepares at-home lessons for her kids. She worries about too much screen time making them restless, which also affects her work.

"I hope the government sees this is not just affecting one part of the workforce; it is all the workforce that is being affected. Every single working parent," she said.

At Laurentian Elementary School in Lachute, 12-year-old Blake will finish grade 6 next spring. His mom, Tina Chapman, says bridging a special needs student into high school has been extra tough.

"Trying to set-up meetings in-between his elementary school staff and the high school staff has been exceptionally difficult, because you have the strikes that are going on," Chapman said, adding that she "fully supports" teachers and staff.

"The conditions they're trying to work with and the lack of funding, the lack of staff, the lack of training, the lack of equipment. It's not right [...] At the end of the day, the teachers are fighting for our kids and the conditions that they are learning in."

Teachers with the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE) have been on an indefinite strike since Nov. 23, while teachers in the Common Front of unions launched another round of strikes on Friday.