The coronavirus keeps on challenging everyone. Its threat to someone's physical and mental health is getting serious every day. Parents who are stuck with their children have been dealing not only with the effects of the pandemic to themselves but also their more intimate encounters with their children, especially teenagers.
Teens, according to experts, hate being told. The teenage years are full of mood swings, and the pandemic makes this feeling a little worse.
According to a pediatric psychologist, Dr. Brian Allen, from Penn State Hershey Medical Center, kids feel they are taken away by COVID-19 from some of the most meaningful connections in life, like school and sports.
To address this, some of the reminders of experts to parents of teens are:
1. It's okay not to be perfect.
Because it seems that kids are already missing out from a lot of fun, it will not do the family any good if parents feel they keep on committing mistakes. Dr. Allen says, that committing mistakes at this point is okay, and everything does not have to be perfect; there should always be room for parents to also take a break.
2. Form a plan.
When teens get stuck in the loop of watching videos, playing videogames, and eating unhealthy food, they will continue to become bored and eventually uncertain. To make sure teens do not end up this way, parents should devise a way to keep them busy or to talk to them in taking a better direction.
When planning the things that they will do in the future, Dr. Allen suggests that parents also provide options to their teens.
3. Go easy on the screen time rules
The easiest way to make connections to the world outside one's home is through the internet. If parents impose very strict screentime rules before the pandemic, now is the perfect time to ease that up. Allowing teens to socialize can help them to regain their social connection. Through this, they will not feel the lack of social support in a time when they need it the most.
4. Discover how to watch anger.
When parents and teens clash, parents tend to snap, especially since they already have a lot on their plate. The last thing that the entire family would need is too much negativity, so parents should learn how to stop yelling.
It is okay to lose cool, but this should be a learning moment for the parents and the kids as well. Talk through how losing cool or temper will be avoided the next time.
5. Modify expectations.
One reminder from experts is that teens are under stress too!
Because of a school year that they lost and all the activities that they have probably planned in their heads, it also makes learning at home difficult for them. To make sure parents will not deal with so many frustrations, they have to be realistic. The stress that the teens are experiencing does not make them the best distance learner, so to keep them calm and focused, it would be nice if parents are flexible with their expectations.
