Take Care of Each Other

As I write to you, I wish I had the power to replace your sadness with joy, restore what you’ve lost, and eliminate the virus. I know you yearn for a superpower that would restore us to health and our normal before Covid-19 disrupted and dismantled our lives. But you and I, parents, teachers, and students, living in the real world feel worn and weary while striving to thrive clad in masks and separated by six feet. We wait together, although it doesn’t feel like any togetherness we’ve ever known, for our vaccine injections and the end of the pandemic.

The toll on our children is tremendous. The loss is massive for the young men or women, whose identities were wrapped up in shining as an athlete and competing, whose seasons never materialized. The same is true for those in the arts and extracurricular activities. The social and emotional interactions schools provide can’t be duplicated with online learning. Amid puberty, trying to figure out how they can fit in and stand out, and working with an immature brain, this pandemic has been especially harsh on adolescents.

I encourage you to talk to your children about their feelings and how they process everything in their world. If their coping skills, activity levels, or mental health decline, get help for them. The same applies to you. We’re in uncharted territory, and we must be mindful and watch over each other even more than before. We are more fragile than we were. Seeking help is a strength: we would not let a broken leg go untended, and the same policy is necessary for emotional health.

A gregarious friend sought a mental health professional last May. She recognized dark days had crept up on her: her enthusiasm vanished, and she stopped running seven miles a day. She shared that she felt isolated and lonely when in-person socializing stopped, working from home started, and traveling ceased. As I chatted with her tonight and asked if I could tell her story, she wanted you to know that seeing a counselor was the best thing she did this year.

Please be mindful, take care of each other, and know that I’m here for you.

©Your Tween & You. All rights reserved