That thing Everyone is talking about, or are they?
So what am I talking about? Well with our Teens and tweens being back in school now, across the UK, the news has changed its narrative on whether it is a good idea to have schools back now.
With the rise in Covid-19 cases on the rise, this has many of us as parents feeling nervous, or some of us are exasperated. Whichever way you are feeling it is safe to say our teens and tweens are definitely talking about it.
Lockdown has been hard for everyone but for them the lockdown has been particularly difficult. They had to give up all the things that help us in our most tumultuous time of development. Like for teens and tweens Friends are life right? School is where you start to discover who you think you might want to be. They push boundaries in that discovery zone too, just to see who they are and what they can do.
Lockdown has changed all of the usual teen stuff, even school is not the same experience.
In your house did Lockdown support your young person to thrive?
Or has lockdown made things more challenging?
Some of our teens and tweens have managed to overcome hurdles they had pre-pandemic because it offered them a breather.
For example, my daughter really struggles with personal touch, and personal space. She cant handle people being in her space, so pandemic has offered her that relief of not having to reinforce that boundary.
For some other teens it has been hard because everything they had confidence in was taken away , they are having to navigate it all again as though from the start. That is anxiety inducing.
For example my other daughter feels like she never really left Primary school and now they are in 2nd year. They re talking about choices and options, she feels lost in the sea of big decisions.
The newest conversations in our house right now are the conflicting messages around the younger people getting the vaccines. The information is difficult to follow and we as parents want to do our best for our children and young people.
Now whilst this conversation may be controversial, I am in no way stating anything for or against. I just want to have a discussion or invite you to think about how our young people can try to have those conversations, ensuring they get the right information and are encouraged to make their choice based on having many conversations.
Like with anything our children are asked to do there is a responsibility on us to teach our children healthy boundaries. That includes consent, so for us to support our young people we often have to look at the bigger picture.
How do we give them the right information?
Do we have to educate ourselves before telling them?
Do we have to look internally at our bias?
Can we comfortably give information uncensored?
How do we support them to make the decision, then not to be swayed by peer pressure?
How often did we as teens make a decision based on the fact “our pals were doing it”?
Have your teens been talking about the fact that they are considering the vaccine for our young people?
Do they feel informed, do they have worries?
My big concern is that they are talking about it with friends, which means we do not know what information they are absorbing so for us as parents what do we do to offer the support they need to make the right decision for them?
How do we support them to be comfortable with their friends choices even if they are different from theirs?
I think it is safe to say that these conversations are important so that if and when the time comes that Government do or do not decide on the vaccination program, then our teens and tweens are feeling more confident in making their decision that best suits them.
What is in store for Potential in Families program?
Well first things..
The families blog will move to being delivered to fortnightly rather than weekly. The decision to do it this way is in part because…..
As a parent, there is not always learning to be had, well, not learning that can be shared to explore knowledge and gain new understanding. We just sometimes get caught up in the daily grind and sometimes that means there just is not anything to report or explore. Secondly, there will now also be a blog that is written from Scott here at Potential in me. this blog will offer insight into how we support our young people in the workforce and those who are employing them.
Here at Potential in Me we offer the coaching approach in a holistic way that offer wrap around support to all adults who are supporting our next generation. So watch this space for an alternating but exciting new blog schedule.
We are hoping to be delivering Face to Face.
With the world starting to open up and face to face workshops being offered again, we are hopeful to be offering workshops that can help Support our families. So watch this space for further information or if you would like to get in touch to see what we can do to offer support to your families or families you work with, then please do not hesitate to contact us, we would love to hear from you.