How to Care for Yourself and Your Teen During a Forced Lockdown: Essential Tips for Mental Health and Family Wellness

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What To Tell Our Children

What we remember about the Covid might be drastically different than what our children will hold in their memories. While our schools are closing, we have no money and work, while we’re constantly running out of cleaning supplies and toilet paper, and almost dying a few times each day of burnout, our children are busy living each day as it unfolds.

So, let’s get busy with them with hikes, picnics and making forts, all the things that they care about than those awful headlines that stare at us each day.

There’s so much work to do anyway, where’s the time to fret? We must help them understand how the quality of their focus, their sleep and their digital lives will dictate the trajectory of their lives. We must teach them how to manage expectations, why having a strong personal value system is important and the real reason behind parental impatience and exhaustion.

We must cultivate and nurture them so they develop into a curious, compassionate and good citizen of the community. So, as you’re navigating your daily grind, don’t forget to tell them how much they’re helping you preserve your sanity.

A Time To Come Together

Can there be a blue print for something no one knows how to cope with? There might not be, but we can do a few things that can convert our irrational fears into tales of compassion.

We can begin by peeling ourselves out of the burnout and becoming other focused. We can support those who’re living through grief and loss of loved ones. We can collapse under pressure or find joy in buying a meal from a friend’s restaurant because you know it won’t last long.

And we can avoid media like the plague itself of become hedonistic and absurd with rage and keyboard courage. We can be irresponsible and contribute to the already full capacity morgues or show our gratitude to the front line folks like grocery shelf stockers and health care workers.

By helping ourselves in this way, we can also develop a new perspective for our teens. Good luck.

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