Weekly Reads: Parenting Ain’t Easy!
Your Weekly Review of Parenting on the Web and in the News
I hope I never do anything to bring shame on myself, my family or my other family.
Howdy Readers! I hope this Sunday finds you as healthy and happy as is reasonably possible in this the darkest of timelines. To help with that we’ve scoured the internet for helpful advice, or at least some dark humor to help the time pass. You’re welcome…
Jessica Grose shares advice on helping your anxious kid.
Label what’s happening. Just acknowledging the recent changes to your children’s lives can feel validating, said Becky Kennedy, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in New York City. “With young kids, you can keep an ongoing list of things that have changed and things that have stayed the same,” Dr. Kennedy said. Brainstorm this list verbally with your kids — for example, “You used to go to a school building, that has changed, but you still have Mommy tucking you in every night, that’s the same.” By doing so, it will make them feel less alone in their feelings, because they’ll know they’re not the only one noticing that things aren’t the way they used to be.
Doctors are expecting a huge spike in pediatric injuries in the home. Melinda Wenner Moyer walks us through her own brush with such a crisis after her five year old lost a battle with the sidewalk while biking.
It’s a tough time for everyone right now. But parents have to be superheroes. Many of us are expected to do several jobs at once — follow the news, cook family meals, stay calm, care for our kids and teach algebra. So kids are doing what kids do when they can get away with it: Climbing on things they shouldn’t be climbing on, riding bikes without helmets, doing somersaults on the backyard trampoline, throwing dangerous objects at their siblings’ heads.
Moving my practice to teletherapy was the easy part. Helping kids of all ages manage their emotions, cope with profound loneliness and learn to navigate the frustration of this new world of distance learning is much more difficult. Amid the changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic, technology keeps us connected, but without the safety of the school structure, countless children will suffer from anxiety, depression and loneliness. Children worldwide are wrapped up in a grief they can’t begin to understand caused by a collective trauma with no clear end in sight.
Finally, Science Insider brings us two experts to help bust 12 myths about parenting.
Featured Image: Lazy Baby by Gordon Wrigley on Flickr, shared with a Creative Commons License.
