Hello to all of you! Welcome to another week of social distancing, closed schools, and increased irritation with how loudly family members chew or breathe. (Yes, I did see an article on handling other people’s chewing.) Overall, as I talk to families and schools and clinicians, I think the general mood is one of resilience with a dose of impatience thrown in. One teen told me she is actually learning how to be bored for the first time in her busy life. One teacher told me how hard it will be to end the school year without saying goodbye in person to her students. My colleagues feel grateful for the ability to use telehealth but often less competent as they make the adjustment to screens only. What to do? You see it everywhere and so do I: focus on what we CAN control in a time of such disruption and uncertainty. The latest two episodes of A Mom’s Retreat offer some encouragement and ideas. In case you missed it, I launched a weekly podcast a few weeks ago with my co-host Robin to provide some guidance on parenting during a pandemic. Even if you don't listen to podcasts, you can read the show transcripts.In Episode Three, Why We Must Flatten Our Emotional Curve for Our Kids, Robin and I talk about emotional management (my term) or as Robin more aptly puts it, “don’t freak out your kids.” Our ability to handle powerful emotions and model that for our children is essential. We want to show kids how to tolerate these big feelings and how to own them when they show up. Every day—and every day in a pandemic—we can teach these valuable skills, and I’ll talk how to do that. In Episode Four, Plan Now for the Next New Normal, I urge us all to think about our eventual transition back to normal and which family quarantine habits will be tough to break. We didn’t have time to prepare when we were thrown into this traumatic change, but we can prepare for our journey out. It’s time to put some structure in place, because I’m seeing kids feeling more adrift. And with the help of Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, we talk about staying connected to teens who are wilting a bit as the weeks go on. Cranky? Isolative? Nocturnal? You bet. I have a life altering piece of advice from my mentor that adults need right now. As always, my goal is to help you feel connected and validated. From my house to yours, I wish you moments of joy and snippets of silliness as we take it day by day. I hope you enjoy these episodes. We will be begin taking listener questions from those posted in the podcast group on Facebook. Lynn
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