What a summer can do A typical summer offers respite from the plentiful homework, packed schedule, and other stresses teens face during the school year. As school ends, excitement builds: for freedom, nice weather, new adventures, and old traditions. As the world continues to adjust to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, this e-journal will discuss ways in which parents and other adults engaged with students can support them during a potentially atypical summer. A socially-distanced summer
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many of our exciting plans for summer. For teens, this long-anticipated season may now include anxiety about what's to come, extended separation from friends, and grief over year-end rituals gone uncelebrated. New stress follows, which can lead to increased risk for unhealthy decision-making. Teens consistently tell FCD Prevention Specialists that stress is a top reason they may choose to use alcohol and other drugs. Compared to an adult response to stress, teens' emotionally driven brains make it more likely that their stress will feel unmanageable to them. We must help them to find healthy coping strategies to manage that stress. When summer is a bummer With patience and understanding, we can start supporting the young people in our lives who may be struggling to adjust healthfully to this summer of uncertainty: Listen First. By listening to teens share what's stressful for them now, and validating that stress, we can help young people address specific stressors that may put them at a higher -risk for alcohol and other drug use. Listening also helps us know what questions to ask our teens about their stress. By asking these questions, we work with teens to figure out what they need and how to access supports to manage their stress in healthy ways. Set a schedule. Allow teens down time while also highlighting the importance of a schedule. Help them set a schedule that includes multiple activities based on the young person's interests. These can include art, reading, physically-distanced athletics, and virtual meetups with friends. Keep students learning. Humans crave growth. Learning new skills and information increases our awareness of the world and our prosocial identity within it, which is a protective factor against substance misuse. There are many social, scientific, political, economic, and environmental issues for the next generation to explore at this moment in history. Encourage your students to learn more about an area of life that interests them. Through formal research, engagement with appropriate pop culture, and deep discussions with friends and family, kids can connect and contribute to their world in meaningful ways. Share your stress busters. What have you learned about yourself and managing stress during this time? Take a moment to talk with young people about the options and activities that now bring you relief. When appropriate, invite the teens in your life to try out these stress relievers for themselves! Now more than ever, young people are looking to adults to observe how we manage stress. Pay forward to them what has worked for you. Make meals the transition. When we're home every day, the days can feel monotonous and blurred. Consider using meals as marked transitions "between" different aspects of life for teens. For example, self-care time might happen before breakfast, hobby time between breakfast and lunch, social time between lunch and a snack, chore time before dinner, and evening relaxation to follow the last meal of the day. Structure and predictability will ease the passing of time and give teens a way to anticipate each day. Add physically distanced "healthy highs." At FCD Prevention Works, our Prevention Specialists often discuss the perks and protections of a teen's summer spent developing new hobbies and talents, building enduring relationships, and having fun in alcohol-and-other-drug-free ways. An active summertime can still be a key part of keeping healthy kids healthy. Limit isolation in the bedroom. It's normal for teens to want autonomy and privacy. Honor and encourage some time for teens to veg out in their room to listen to music, message friends, or browse the internet. Appropriately limit that time each day and help teens be a part of a greater family life for the majority of the time. Find the silver lining. Summer 2020 will not meet many of our initial expectations for it. Yet, this an opportunity to try new things, start new traditions, and make new meaning while accepting the loss of what once was normal. Help teens make their way with as much hope and opportunity for health as possible. An abridged article by Katie Greeley Comments are closed.
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August 2022
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