Coronavirus and Your Teens

Coronavirus Concerns

Today is the last day of scheduled spring break for my own teens, a senior and a sophomore. But our school district has canceled classes next week, and plan to reevaluate the situation before bringing kids back into school.

From watching the news and talking to friends around the country, it sounds like that’s pretty standard, no matter where you are.

So for this week’s episode, I thought I’d talk about what that means for you if you’re a parent of teens.

Whether you’re on the end of the spectrum that thinks this is going to blow over soon, or at the opposite end who fully expects a close-to-Apocalyptic scenario, the fact remains the same: we’re all home for the duration.

If your teens are like mine, they’re still on a “they canceled school!” snow day-type of high. But I can read the writing on the wall – and if you’re like me, there are big, bold letters spelling out “I’m bored!”

Which isn’t a horrible problem to have – I know we all prefer “I’m bored" to "I feel sick.”

Because this isn’t a snow day, and it’s a little bit scary. It only takes a Target run to see what I mean - the starkly empty toilet paper and cleaning aisles and the checkout lines snaking through the store.

And if we’re feeling a little scared, I know our teens are picking up on that energy and experiencing stress about things too.

Coronavirus and Your Teens

So here are some tips on how to handle corona-geddon with your teens.

Talk About It Frankly

Knowledge is power. Find reliable resources of information about the virus and share them with your teens.  This is a great time to show the difference between factual information and sensationalized information.

Talk about being cautious, not fearful or cavalier. Neither extreme is helpful in this situation. Being cautious means staying informed about any local restrictions, and knowing how to practice good hygiene (something I know schools have indoctrinated in our kids since kindergarten, but they still might need some reminders.)

Equip Them to Be Caretakers  

Thankfully, young people seem to be less affected than the middle-aged and older population. Which is where my husband and I squarely land. There is a definite possibility that we might both be ill at the same time, while our kids are not.

Now is a great time to refresh some life skills and talk about what to do in that scenario. Things like: making meals, disinfecting surfaces, quickly washing contaminated towels and other cleaning materials.

Walking through what to do in an emergency might be helpful, as well as what to do if your illness takes a turn for the worse. Sharing information about what symptoms to look for, who to call if they have any questions, or how to contact your doctor’s office is useful.

Combatting Cabin Fever and Boredom

I fervently hope that the annoyance of being stuck at home together for a long period of time is the worst suffering you and your family go through. To that end, here are some things you can do (and have your teen do) to stay occupied.

Maintain a routine and schedule. (This is especially important if your teens are doing school online.)

Keep up with everyday chores like dishes, sweeping the kitchen, feeding dogs, taking out the trash, etc.

Have your teens help with responsibilities like planning and cooking meals and doing laundry.

Make a list of all those little projects around the house you keep meaning to get to – and have your teen choose some to do. For me, that list looks like cleaning out the media room, organizing in the garage, sorting through some paperwork to file, and cleaning out the junk drawers in the kitchen.

Limit personal screen time and plan activities to do together instead. Playing a board game, listening to an audiobook, watching a movie, going through old photo albums, etc.

And of course, my very favorite, READ! If you’re looking for some great recommendations, you can head to Episode 65 to get more than 25 Young Adult book suggestions.

You’re Bored? Awesome

One last tip. This is something I did during the summers when my teens were younger, and it was VERY effective at motivating them to entertain themselves.

I made an “I’m Bored” jar, and any time they complained about having nothing to do, they had to draw a slip of paper from it. What was on the paper?

I came up with a list of 25-30 activities, equal parts fun and . . . not so fun. They had a 50/50 chance of pulling “Clean all the toilets” and “Get an extra half hour of screen time.” Some other examples of things they could draw were:

Clean all the dog poop in the back yard. Watch one episode of your favorite TV show. Clean all the baseboards in the house. Invite a friend over to hang out. Etc.

Now my teens know that if they tell me they’re bored, I get SUPER excited and give them something to do.

Waiting It Out

I'm praying that this blows over soon and that we can look back and feel glad that we hoped for the best and prepared for a worst that never happened. I hope that you and your family stay well and that the mandated time at home together is connecting!

 

For more resources, head to the show notes for this episode.