Pandemic Life Skills
These last months have been wild, strange, and uncertain. As our world faces historic challenges and we race to get our own pandemic life skills up to speed, we can bring our young people alongside.
Teens are not made for isolation, which makes COVID-19 especially hard on them. This is an essential time for teens to build capacity for self-care, a positive mindset, physical health and a resilient spirit. Teenagers are prone to stay up late, eat junk, forget to drink and eat, perseverate about social media, feel things deeply, and have difficulty managing moods and anxiety. In truth, they are not always given the tools they need to take care of themselves.
But life is a PRACTICE.
Figure out what makes you feel alive and do more of that.
Self-care has always been foundational, but this public health crisis is shining a stark light on this truth and bringing us back home. I hope these ideas provide credible guidance and solace for parents and adolescents as you navigate the weeks ahead.
You (and they) can do this.
1. Lead Your Pack
Model A Calm Response
It is really important to give your teens facts and be reassuring. But don’t make promises that you cannot keep. The ultimate goal is to find a way to manage your stress, while still providing grounded leadership that will keep you and your family safe.
2. Your Immune System Is Your Superhero
A Strong Immune System Is Your Body’s Defense.
Your body is an incredible machine. It changes over time, interacts with the world, adapts to different environments, and can usually fix itself when broken or wounded. But, like other machines, it needs proper fuel (nutrition), rest (sleep) and maintenance (exercise, down time) to function properly.
3. Protecting Me, Protecting You
We’re in this together
This pandemic is the most potent lesson one could conjure on how an individual's health and the community they live in are directly linked (the social determinants of health). Coronavirus spreads primarily when healthy people come in close personal contact with a person who has COVID-19 who is coughing or sneezing. Health, whether at an individual or a population level, extends into the home, workplace, school, neighborhood, and community.
4. Life In The Den
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts
Your teen is experiencing significant upheaval right now and will be riding this storm from their unique adolescent perch. Be gentle, try to see things through their eyes, and do your best not to badger them.
5. Helping Others Helps Young People
Paying it forward
The coronavirus pandemic won’t last forever, and we’ll be better off if we care for one another. Giving makes us feel happy: is good for our health; promotes social cooperation and social connection, evokes gratitude; and, is contagious. When we give to others, we don’t only make them feel closer to us; we also feel closer to them. And research shows that people who are happier, have a strong purpose in life (and belief that they have control over their situation) seem to have an easier time recovering after disaster. They are more resilient.