It’s about that time for the kids to head back to school. We thought that COVID would just be a bad memory by now, but it seems it’s here to stay for a little while. So how do your kids feel about going back to school in the time of COVID. How do you as a parent feel and how can we make the most of the situation while still trying to keep our families safe and mitigate any anxiety we might have under the current climate?
Show Notes
INTRO THEME]
- [INTRODUCTIONS]
- Insights Into Teens: Episode 122 “Return to school during COVID”
- My grateful and cheerful co-host Madison Whalen
- Summary
- It’s about that time for the kids to head back to school. We thought that COVID would just be a bad memory by now, but it seems it’s here to stay for a little while. So how do your kids feel about going back to school in the time of COVID. How do you as a parent feel and how can we make the most of the situation while still trying to keep our families safe and mitigate any anxiety we might have under the current climate?
- It’s about that time for the kids to head back to school. We thought that COVID would just be a bad memory by now, but it seems it’s here to stay for a little while. So how do your kids feel about going back to school in the time of COVID. How do you as a parent feel and how can we make the most of the situation while still trying to keep our families safe and mitigate any anxiety we might have under the current climate?
- [Show Plugs]
- Subscriptions:
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- Google Podcasts
- Stitcher
- iHeartRadio
- Amazon Music
- Contact Info
- Email us at:
- Comments@insightsintothings.com
- Twitter:
- @insights_things
- Facebook:
- Links to all these on the web Web:
- Email us at:
- Subscriptions:
[TRANSITION]
[SEGMENT 1]
Returning to School During COVID
- After the challenges of last year, kids finally get to be kids again.
- This upcoming school year means being reunited with friends, having some sort of regular schedule again and finally having the chance to show off those new clothes, backpacks and clever school supplies.
- Good for them and good for parents, right?
- While there still are concerns about keeping kids safe from the latest COVID-19 variants, at least parents won’t have to worry about teaching common core math or listening to lessons in between conference calls.
- Unfortunately, some kids might be a little apprehensive about going back.
- For them, home meant a safe haven from several stressors that they faced at school.
- On the other hand, kids who are excited about returning to the classroom will now have to adjust to learning with COVID-19 protocols in place.
- Either way, the transition back to school might be a little stressful for your child.
Why good change can also be stressful
- “In general, going back to school is just a big change.
- It’s a whole new setting especially for kids who are going from elementary school to middle school or middle school to high school.,” says pediatric psychologist Vanessa Jensen.
- “It’s a whole new world, and all of the sudden, they’re expected to know what they’re doing.
- It’s a huge shift from being in their little space at home to now being in this world of back to school.”
How to recognize when your child is having a tough time
- If you’re not sure if your child is having a hard time with the transition back to school, think about how they normally act when they’re stressed and look for those behaviors.
- For example, if your child gets headaches or stomach aches when they’re anxious, you’ll know that school is stressing them out should they start having them more frequently.
- “We tend to go toward certain behaviors when we’re stressed.
- My suggestion is for parents to think about what their child does when they get stressed in a new situation,” she says.
- “Think about the behaviors that they usually revert to whether it’s hiding in the background of a small group or acting out and trying to be the funny kid.
- Once you recognize what they tend to do under stress, that’s probably what you’re going to see as they enter into a new situation.”
[AD1: SSE]
[SEGMENT 2]
Helping teens make the adjustment
- We remember our teenage years.
- Some of us were wild and loud.
- Some of us were shy and quiet.
- But regardless of our personalities, most of us probably kept our crushes, craziness and challenging times under wraps.
- Dr. Jensen advises us to keep that in mind when it comes to teens.
- While it’s natural to want to know every single thing that’s going on in your teen’s life, prying or being overbearing will only make things worse.
- “If your child has been able to handle things in general, give them some space.
- But if you’re worried, you can always say things like, ‘You seem a little stressed. You know, I’m around,’
- or ‘Have you talked to your friends?’ And if they have talked to their friends, you can always follow up with ‘Well if you want to talk to me, I’m here.’”
- She calls this her “raindrop theory.”
- Basically, this is dropping little hints that your child can reach out to you should things become unbearable.
- Basically, this is dropping little hints that your child can reach out to you should things become unbearable.
- Dr. Jensen explains.
- “You just put the little raindrops out there by saying ‘You know, I’m around,’ or ‘I’m going to be in my study if you want to talk.’
- You put those little hints out there and kids will reach out when they feel comfortable,” she says.
- Reassure them gently and gradually.
- “If you overwhelm your child with questions, (and I compare this to throwing buckets of water on them), they’re going to think, ‘Whoa, I’m not going there.’
- So, give them space.
- They know you’re there.
- Just keep reassuring them that if things get bad, you’ll be there for them.”
- Now, we all know that some kids think their parents will never be able to relate to their teenage struggles.
- In cases like these, a “cool” aunt or uncle can help.
- Dr. Jensen says that you can sprinkle the raindrops in the direction of another adult that you and your teen trust so they are encouraged to reach out to someone if they’re having a rough time.
- “Give them some room and let the raindrops flow.
- Let your teen know that you’re available to talk but if they’re not comfortable with you for whatever reason, make sure they do have someone to talk to.
- You could say, ‘Aunt Susan is a good person to talk to,’ or ‘Uncle John asks about you all of the time.’
- This can create little trails to other people when your child is kind of quiet with you.”
[AD2: ENTERTAINMENT]
[SEGMENT 3]
How to deal with rebellion against COVID-19 safety rules
- You’ve been doing everything you can to keep those under your roof safe for well over a year.
- Your child has been on board for the most part.
- But one thing is inevitable.
- They’re going to have friends who are still living in 2019 — no masks, no social distancing and no regard for COVID-19 whatsoever.
- What do you do if your child starts challenging the rules?
- Dr. Jensen suggests helping them understand that staying safe is not just about them, but it’s also about all the other people who they care about.
- “Talk to your child about what you believe and where the family as a whole stands.
- Don’t just talk about the risks to them.
- Talk about the risks of spreading COVID-19 to those around you.”
- “You could say something like ‘You know it’s important to our family to stay safe for all kinds of reasons, but more importantly, you have grandma to think about, your dad and your sister.’
- For teens and tweens, it comes down to helping them realize that right now is not the time to just focus on themselves.
- This is difficult because these age groups can be self-focused.
- They also can be easily influenced by their peers.
- But again, you want to encourage them to make the best choices for themselves and your family, especially when you’re not around,” she says.
And if the going gets tough, get help
- Raising kids during a pandemic hasn’t been easy on anyone.
- When parents try to push through the tough times or troubleshoot everything on their own, the process can be even more challenging — and draining.
- Instead of going it alone, Dr. Jensen advises reaching out to the people in your child’s orbit.
- This includes teachers, coaches, their pediatrician and even the school counselor.
- She also recommends taking care of yourself first and foremost.
- “You’re not going to be any good to your kids if you aren’t taking care of yourself, and you’re the biggest role model your kids have.
- We all think that kids look to their peers for role models, but they do rely on their parents for the big things.
- So, the best role model you can be is the person who takes care of themselves and then takes care of their kids,” she says.
- If you have questions about how your child is doing, try talking to their teachers, coaches, scout leader and other important people in their life.
- Ask what they are seeing. Then, talk to your child.
- “If things are beyond your control, reach out to your pediatrician’s office for referrals.
- Your child’s guidance counselor can also make referrals if you need more help.”
- Ask what they are seeing. Then, talk to your child.
[TRANSITION]
- [CLOSE]
- Closing thoughts shoutouts
- Show Plugs
- Subscriptions:
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- Google Podcasts
- Stitcher
- iHeartRadio
- Tunein
- Contact Info
- Email us at:
- Comments@insightsintothings.com
- Twitter:
- @insights_things
- Hi-res videos on Youtube:
- Streaming 5 days a week on Twitch:
- Audio Versions:
- Facebook:
- Links to all these on the web Web:
- Email us at:
- Subscriptions:
[OUTRO AND CREDITS]
Transcription
[Music]
insightful podcasts
[Music]
by informative hosts
[Music]
insights into things
[Music]
a podcast network
[Music]
welcome to insights into teens a podcast
series exploring the issues and
challenges of today’s youth your hosts
are joseph and madison whalen a father
and daughter team making their way
through the challenges of the teenage
years
[Music]
[Applause]
welcome to insights into teens this is
episode
return to school during covid i’m your
host joseph whalen
and my grateful and cheerful co-host
madison whalen hi everyone how you doing
today manny
i’m doing all right how about you i’m
doing okay how was your week this week
it’s been all right
boring
i could tell because every time i talk
to you
over the phone from work you seem to be
very bored
um
well
you gotta you know
enjoy it while it lasts you know that’s
right you’ll be going back to school
soon hence the reason for this podcast
yeah
so it’s about that time for kids to head
back to school we thought that covid was
just going to be a bad memory by now but
it seems it’s here to stay for a while
longer
so how do your kids feel about going
back to school in the time of covid
how do you as a parent feel and how can
we make the most of the situation while
still trying to keep our family safe and
mitigate any anxiety we might have under
the current climate
that’s our topic today
before we dive into it though i would
invite our audience to subscribe to the
podcast you can get audio versions of
this podcast listed as insights into
teens
video versions of all the network
podcasts can be listed as insights into
things
we’re available on apple podcast spotify
google stitcher i heart radio pretty
much any place you can get a podcast
i would also invite you to
write in give us your feedback
you can email us at comments insights
into thingscom
you can hit us on twitter at insights
underscore things
on facebook at facebookcom insights
into things podcast or on instagram
at instagramcom insights into things we
can get links to all those on our
website at
dot insightsintothingscom
ready to get started sure all right
[Music]
so returning the school during covid
so the research for this
topic comes from the cleveland clinic
they say after the challenges of last
year kids finally get to be kids again
this upcoming school year
means being reunited with friends having
some sort of regular schedule again and
finally having the chance to show off
those new clothes backpacks and clever
school supplies
good for them and good for the parents
right
while there are still concerns about
keeping kids safe from the latest
covid variants at least parents won’t
have to worry about teaching common core
math or listening to lessons in between
conference calls
unfortunately some kids might be a
little apprehensive about going back
for them home meant a safe haven
from several stressors that they faced
at school
on the other hand kids who are excited
about returning to the classroom will
now have to adjust to learning with
covid protocols in place
either way the transition back to school
might be a little stressful for your
child
so let’s stop right there for a second
and let me ask you how do you feel about
going back to school because
all of last year
and the second half of the year before
you were at home
schooling at home
so how do you feel about going back to
school in person
i probably would feel a little better if
i wasn’t going into my freshman year of
high school yeah
yeah that does complicate things doesn’t
it
yeah like not only is it a transition to
an entire school but
freshman year is a lot different than
seventh and eighth grade and
a lot of changes are going to take place
there
you’re right and just in general there’s
changes but i think they’re good changes
and i think you’ll be able to cope with
them but do you have any anxiety about
covid and being around other people
i mean yeah i haven’t really been around
people that much
in the past year and
i am going and while i am vaccinated um
i’m still
i still have like
anxiety of people in a way
um i know i used to be like socially
awkward when i was fir when before it
even happened and now it’s kind of
started growing
to the point where i’m kind of afraid to
be around people physically yeah and i
think a lot of people are getting to
that point and
it’s one of those things we’re going to
have to learn to deal with for a little
while longer yeah and it’s a pretty
scary thing when mommy the most
extroverted person out of all of us
is afraid to talk to people and doesn’t
really want to be bothered at work yeah
well
you’re right you know it’s it’s an
adjustment
so
they do talk about change they say why
good change can also be stressful
in general going back to school is a big
change
it’s a whole new setting especially for
kids who are going either from
elementary school to middle school
or like you from middle school to high
school says pediatric psychologist
vanessa jensen
it’s a whole new world and all of a
sudden they’re expected to know what
they’re doing
it’s a huge shift from being in their
little space at home to now being in the
in the in this world of back to
school so
how do you recognize when your child is
having a tough time
if you’re not sure if your child is
having a hard time with the transition
back to school think about how they
normally act when they’re stressed and
look for those behaviors for example if
your child gets headaches or stomach
aches when they’re anxious you’ll know
that school is stressing them out should
they start having them more frequently
we tend to go toward behavior
we tend to go towards certain behaviors
when we’re stressed my suggestion is for
parents to think about what their child
does when they get stressed in a new
situation she says
think about the behaviors that they
usually revert to
whether it’s hiding in the background of
a small group or acting out and trying
to be the funny kid
once you recognize what they tend to do
under stress that’s probably what you’re
going to see as they enter into a new
situation so what do you think are some
of your stressor signs that that are
kind of tell that you’re a little
freaked out
um
[Music]
let’s see um
you do have breakdowns yeah breakdowns
are probably the biggest thing but
that’s kind of an obvious sign
right i mean everyone who has breakdowns
is kind of an obvious sign but
do you feel physically ill do you get
stomachaches do you get headaches
um
sometimes i have a harder time breathing
because i feel like i somewhat
hyperventilate sometimes whenever i’m
stressed so that’s probably
kind of one of the physical attributes i
kind of associate myself with whenever i
feel anxious i can see that
um
there are some points where i get
headaches typically
to the point if i do have a freakout
sometimes
afterwards if it was really bad i would
have a headache yeah
see for me when i when i’m freaked out
usually i’ll talk more
or i’ll try to make more jokes and it’s
all an attempt to try to calm myself
down
like this happens a lot of doctors
appointments you know because i get
freaked out going to the doctor
so i’ll try to crack jokes i’ll try to
you know lighten the mood a little bit
i’ll try to have conversations change
the subject that type of thing so
anytime i’m doing that i know i’m
starting to
have a little bit of anxiety you know
um there are some other attributes i
think i might kind of associate myself
with
uh one would probably
will probably be like the opposite of
what you’re doing and it’s like i kind
of stay silent right you pull you pull
back into yourself there and and try to
like
extricate yourself from the situation
yeah yeah um i’d also sometimes like
fiddle with my hands or do something to
distract myself
and a lot of people do that sort of that
nervous twitch type thing
yeah
so we’re gonna have to keep an eye on
these things you know
i think there’s a certain anxiety for
all of us i’m
i was dead set against you going back to
school last year because of how bad
things were
i i don’t know if things are much better
now so i’m not
thrilled about you going back to school
the fact that you do have
the you did get the vaccine and you’re
fully vaccinated
helps to alleviate a lot of that anxiety
for me
i also want to see what kind of
protocols they’re doing at school what
kind of cleaning they’re doing are they
you know they they’re going back and
forth on mask mandates today
i understand there is a mask mandate for
schools
so that makes me feel better that
everyone’s going to be wearing masks but
they’re not always going to be wearing
masks and who’s going to be enforcing
that and
you know
i want to i want to get a report from
you as to
what the school’s doing and whether or
not you feel comfortable at the school
with the protocols that you’re taking
and then we’ll go from there okay i’ll
try taking note of that okay
so uh we’re gonna take a quick break
we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna
talk about helping teens make the
adjustments we’ll be right back
[Music]
for over seven years the second sith
empire has been the premier community
guild in the online game star wars the
old republic
with hundreds of friendly and helpful
active members
a weekly schedule of nightly events
annual guild meet and greets
and an active community both on the web
and on discord
the second civ empire is more than your
typical gaming group
we’re
family join us on the star forge server
for nightly events
such as operations flash points
world boss hunts
star wars trivia
guild lottery and much more
visit us on the web today
at wwwthendsithempirecom
[Music]
welcome back to insights into teens
today we’re talking about returning to
school during covid
so we’re going to talk a little bit
about helping teens make the adjustment
as parents we remember our teenage years
some of us were wild and loud
some of us were shy and quiet but
regardless of our personalities
most of us probably kept our crutches
our craziness and our challenging times
under wraps
dr jensen advises us to keep that in
mind when it comes to teens
while it’s natural to want to know every
single thing that’s going on in your
teen’s life
crying or being overbearing will only
make things worse
if your child has been able to handle
things in general give them some space
but if you’re worried
you can always say things like you seem
a little stressed you know i’m around
or have you talked to your friends
and if they have talked to their friends
you can always follow up with
well you want to talk to me i’m here
she calls this her raindrop theory
basically this is dropping little hints
that your child can reach out to you
should things become unbearable
dr jensen explains
you just put the little raindrops out
there by saying you know i’m around or
i’m going to be in my study if you want
to talk
you put those little hints out there and
kids will reach out when they feel
comfortable she says
reassure them gently and gradually
if you overwhelm your child with
questions and i compared this to
throwing buckets of water on them
they’re going to think whoa i’m not
going there
so give them some space
they know you’re there just keep
reassuring them that if things get bad
you’ll be there for them
now we all know that some kids think
their parents will never be able to
relate to their teenage struggles
in cases like these a cool aunt or uncle
can help
dr jensen says that you can sprinkle the
raindrops in the direction of another
adult that you and your teen trust
so that
so they are encouraged to reach out to
someone if they are having a tough time
give them some room and let the
raindrops flow
let your teen know that you are
available to talk but if they’re not
comfortable with you for whatever reason
make sure they do have someone to talk
to
you could say aunt susan is a good
person to talk to or uncle john asks
asks about you all the time
this can create little trails to other
people when your child is kind of quiet
to you
so how do you deal with this stuff i
know you
you talk to mommy and i and i think we
pretty much have
an open line of communication
are there things that you don’t talk to
mommy and daddy
about and you don’t go into specifics
obviously if you’re not comfortable
well i can think of one specific example
i mean i’ve tried talking to you guys
about it
uh
but
uh it’s not the easiest topic for me to
discuss with you guys do you have
someone that you can talk to about it i
actually talked to um
and chris about this okay when we went
to visit her so so so you do have an
outlet for it at least yeah did you find
that helpful
yeah i did okay
now do you have an chris’s contact
information if you want to talk to her
any other time yeah i do i have her own
facebook messenger so i can probably
message her if i do need help with it
okay well that’s good so you at least
have that outlet there that you can go
to
are there
friends of yours that you think might
not have someone else that they can talk
to or do they not feel comfortable
talking to their parents about certain
things
i could kind of say it in one of my
friends maybe not being able to talk to
their
parents about certain things um and thus
they kind of bring it to me
so you are you are one of those outlets
that they can talk to then i think so
yeah and they talk to you in confidence
then
mostly yeah that’s good
i think it’s important you know we had
talked about this last week with
feeling like a burden and the
therapeutic value of just being able to
talk about things
but
who you talk to about those things can
be very important
some people you you don’t feel
comfortable talking about with certain
subjects and i can totally understand
that
but that doesn’t mean you don’t talk
about those subjects that just means you
kind of have to find someone that you
can talk to about them yeah so what
prompted you to talk to and chris about
the subject
um
i kind of felt like she could
do she had much more knowledge on the
subject than i think you guys did okay
for the most part at least well that’s
that’s a brilliant reason for going to
someone else if they’re a subject matter
expert on it yeah
and if if it was helpful then you made
the right decision
do you advise your friends
to talk to other people about any of the
issues that they’re running into
um i have been trying to mention to them
um if they do have issues
um they can always talk to me or someone
else if they do have problems so i’ve
kind of been steering them in that
direction
now
when you were in you’re obviously going
into high school now in your middle
school
did the teachers or your counselors make
themselves available to have these kinds
of discussions or were they kind of
distant i mean i remember that uh
the counselor had actually
um set up various appointments um with
all the kids kind of like
she’d like ask us questions about stuff
and kind of get our opinions on
everything and was always like if you
ever need me i’m here so
i definitely think we had a pretty
supportive guidance yeah can you loan me
bucks
daddy really
well you have to understand when i was
in school my guidance counselor was
almost non-existent
you know i think i talked in because we
i was in the same school for six years
with the same guidance counselor i
started in seventh grade
and
in
six years i think i may have seen them
twice once when i got there and then
once when they set up some appointment
because really all our guidance
counselors did was tell us what we
needed to do to get into college and
where to take the test and stuff like
that
they really weren’t there to provide
much in the way of life guidance
how your counselor is done with that
honestly when i had actually gone to the
um office the one time i had actually
seen like a message where it’s like
everything they talk about in the room
stays between basically stays in the
room unless it’s harmful to you or
someone else which makes sense because
then they’re legally obligated to get
someone else involved
like for instance if it’s self-harm
suicide thought something like that they
then have to bring in a professional
yeah for stuff like that
so have you ever thought to go to your
counselor with any of the issues that
you feel you need to talk about
i mean i probably should have but
um most of the issues kind of came up
during covet and i was never really in
the building
okay i mean i could have probably like
scheduled a conference call which i kind
of did the one time but it was mainly
the schedule stuff right right i
remember that
but i don’t think i’ve ever really
talked my issues about
okay i just i don’t know i just never
really felt i needed to right
i understand again if they’re not the
right person that you feel comfortable
with
you know even though it’s their job then
they’re not the right person because
whether it’s their job or not
you ultimately need to be comfortable
with it
do you feel you have an outlet now that
you can go to or that you have options
if you have something you need to talk
about
uh yeah i do okay you know aunt chris
you my friends that kind of stuff good
it’s important to have those options
available to you i don’t ever want you
to feel
you know if there’s an issue you’re not
comfortable talking to us about and you
don’t have someone
let us know that you have an issue
and we can help you find somebody okay
so do you have any issues that you want
to talk about regarding going back to
school during
covid
i mean
i have a ton of issues going back to
school
and i know i’m not talking about the
ones in general i’m just talking about
anything that’s specific to covert
like do you feel safe going back to
school
not
necessarily for the most part okay i
think you’re kind of in the same boat
that that i’m in with you going back to
school yeah it’s one of these things
that
we need to see how they’re handling it
the state of new jersey is
mandating some of these protocols now
which
makes me feel a little bit better
but how the school’s implementing those
is really what it’s going to come down
to yeah
so i think we kind of have to try it
give it a shot
and see where we’re at
and
you know if after a few days when we’ve
seen all the classrooms and we
see what the protocols are like and how
serious the school’s taking them
we can make a determination of whether
or not we feel safe or not there okay
and if we don’t we’ll see what our other
options are
because if you don’t feel safe i’m not
going to feel safe with you going and
i’m not going to have you you know going
five days a week into an environment
that you’re not safe in
so we’ll cross that bridge when we get
to it but we have to get in there and
see what the practices are like right
off the bat
so we’re going to take another break
we’re going to come back and we’re going
to talk about dealing with rebellion
against covid rules because we seem to
be seeing a lot of that in the media
lately
we’ll be right back
[Music]
insights into entertainment a podcast
series taking a deeper look into
entertainment and media
[Music]
our husband and wife team of pop culture
fanatics are exploring all things from
music and movies to television and
fandom
[Music]
we’ll look at the interesting and
obscure entertainment news of the week
[Music]
we’ll talk about theme park and pop
culture news
we’ll give you the latest and greatest
on pop culture conventions
we’ll give you a deep dive into disney
star wars and much more
[Music]
check out our video episodes at
youtubecom backslash insights into
things
our audio episodes at
podcastinsightsintoentertainmentcom
or check us out on the web at insights
into thingscom
[Music]
welcome back to insights into teens
today we’re talking about returning to
school during covet
and today and
and now
we’re going to talk about how to deal
with rebellion against coven safety
rules you rebel scum oh my god
why did i not see that coming
anyway
you’ve been doing everything you can to
keep those under your roof safe for well
over a year
your child has been on board for most
for the most part
well one thing is inevitable
thanos
look if you make those references hey go
right ahead
pop culture references are welcome in
this podcast okay
they’re going to have friends who are
still living in no masks no social
distancing and no regard for copin
whatsoever
what do you do if your child starts
challenging the rules
dr jensen suggests helping them
understand that staying safe is not just
about them but it’s also about all the
people
all the other people who they care about
talk to your child about what you
believe and where the family as a whole
stands
don’t just talk about the risks to them
talk about the risks of spreading cover
to those around you you could say
something like you know it’s important
to our family to stay safe for all kinds
of reasons but more importantly you have
grandma to think about your dad and your
sister
for teens and tweens it comes down to
helping them realize that right now is
not the time to just focus on themselves
this is difficult because these age
groups can be self-focused
they also can be easily influenced by
their peers but again you want to
encourage them to make the best choices
for themselves and your family
especially when you’re not around she
says
and if the going gets tough and the
going has been tough for over a year now
you gotta get help
raising kids during a pandemic hasn’t
been easy on anyone
when parents try to push through the
tough times or troubleshoot everything
on their own
the process can be even more challenging
and draining
instead of going it alone
dr jensen advises reaching out to the
people in your children’s orbit
this includes teachers coaches their
pediatrician and even the school
counselor like we talked about
she also recommends taking care of
yourself first and foremost
you’re not going to be any good to your
kids if you aren’t taking care of
yourself
and you’re the biggest role model your
kids have we all think that kids look to
their peers for role models
but they do rely on their parents for
the big things
so the best role model you can be is the
person who takes care of themselves and
then takes care of their kids she says
and if you have questions about how your
child’s doing try talking to their
teachers coaches
scout leader and other important people
in their life
ask what they’re saying
then talk to your child
if things are beyond your control reach
out to your pediatrician’s office for
referrals
your guidance counselor can also make
referrals for you
if you need more help
so with that in mind
how do you
have have you run into
people
i i mean you haven’t run into a lot of
people at all none of us have but
have you encountered people that are
rebelling against the covet protocols
i mean the good thing is i don’t think
any of my friends are rebelling against
it which is good right so absolutely
um
but i’m pretty sure at some point i will
encounter people who are rebelling
against it
um and
well that’ll be fun i guess how you’ve
been going out of the house for for
marching band now how has marching band
been handling because i think that’s
probably
the best barometer we have right now
with how school’s going to be how how
have you felt with marching band
i thought all right we always you know
keep our distance and now there’s a
mandate wherever whenever we’re inside
we wear masks and people have been doing
that now you weren’t doing that before
the state mandate though right
uh no but i would typically kind of stay
away
people were kind of spread out for the
most part so it was still kind of all
right okay
so
before that mask mandate
was there a large majority of people
that were voluntarily wearing masks
because i know we were sending you with
one
i know it’s kind of hard to wear a mask
when you when you’re playing a musical
instrument that you have to blow into i
did see one or two people who um would
wear masks whenever they were around
and that’s kind of what i run into at
work most of the people that i have at
work don’t don’t wear masks
uh they don’t really worry too much
about social distancing they kind of did
last year
where
you know we the company itself forced
people to spread out at the lunchroom we
staggered our lunch hours
so we kind of forced
that extra caution
and i don’t know i guess when the state
lifted some of its requirements
we we kind of laxed off on some of that
stuff
right now i’m probably the only person
in the front office who
wears a mask i don’t wear it while i’m
in my office
because you know i have my own office i
have two air filters
that pretty much cycle the air in my
office every minutes or so
so i’m very comfortable in my office
with clean air but anytime i step out of
my office
the mask goes on
but i don’t see anybody else in the
office that wear masks when they’re
moving around so that’s kind of
discouraging for me
uh what about in school because you’ve
been going into the school itself for
marching band stuff have they had like
barriers up and hand sanitizer and the
normal stuff you would expect
um
i haven’t seen any barriers pretty sure
there are um hand sanitizers in certain
rooms we haven’t really been like
staying in the areas but i do remember
there was
a summer school and one time during band
camp we ended up passing them and i um
didn’t really see anyone wearing a mask
no did you see that they were spread out
in the classroom at least
uh
i never really got a glimpse of them
inherently in the classroom okay um i
haven’t really been able to see much of
the protocol going on so we’re gonna
have to wait until you start school how
about when we go out in public do you
notice
whether people are wearing masks or
distancing and stuff
yep and for the most part wherever we go
people are wearing masks or at least
they’re distancing themselves from each
other and when we are
highly restricted in where we go when we
go and
you know we wind up something we go out
to eat for instance
and we’re if we walk into a restaurant
that’s very crowded and obviously not
adhering to any rules
we’ll turn around and walk out yeah
so any restaurants that we stay at we
make sure that they’re seating people in
safe distances and so forth
what else have you done outside of the
house we’ve done
kind of our mini vacation our day trip
vacation
uh you’ve gone shopping right
how have people been at the supermarket
and stuff
they’ve been all right um people there
have been a decent amount of people
wearing masks people are still
social distancing and the last time we
actually went to bj’s for the first time
like
people used to just line up and then
like when someone was done at the um
right at the like self checkout register
the other person another person would go
and like we were all distancing
themselves and the last time we went it
was the first time where people like
actually got in line again right behind
the registers which was kind of a
strange change that i kind of had to get
used to i guess so were they at least
distancing themselves in the red at the
registers or no uh i
sort of
okay uh not as much as before but they
still seemed like they were somewhat
distancing how do you feel about the
safety rules of covert are you going to
continue to wear a mask even if it’s not
mandated yeah probably
and you’re okay with the social
distancing and all that stuff i mean
yeah it’s kind of
made me want to kind of stay away from
people for the most part which may or
may not be a good thing
now have you been going out of the house
and playing with any of the kids in the
neighborhood
no not really okay so so you’re still
maintaining that strict level of
covert protocol now
yeah how do you think that’s affected
you though
you think being in the house so much has
had a negative effect on you i mean the
fact that i used to just be like
anti-social before and now
kind of not even wanting to meet people
in person at this point that’s probably
the main negative side effect that i’ve
kind of gotten so it kind of drove that
anti-social
side of you then to the point where i
was
where now i’m actually kind of afraid of
people and
i i kind of have a phobia of people in a
way so you don’t you don’t have like
mommy for instance mommy mommy’s kind of
itching to get back to things because of
that that extrovert that she is
and i i think the protocols while she’s
doing a very good job adhering to him i
think the protocols
chafe on people like mommy who need to
have that social interaction
it’s it’s caused
cancellations of a lot of the things
that she wants to do and she enjoys
doing
and a lot of the things that she does
are those support things that she needs
and she hasn’t been able to get that so
i
i think that’s been
been a problem for mommy have you had
anything like that where
you’ve wanted to do something but you
can’t and it’s caused some consternation
i mean it used to be not being able to
see my friends and now i’ve kind of
learned to realize that and now i’m
really only like speaking with my
friends on the phone or the one actual
time i was able to socialize where we
were like
like almost a block away from each other
just screaming yeah
but you are still socializing with your
friends through technology at this point
you’re not completely isolating yourself
i mean yeah that’s good well and that’s
i think that’s kind of been our savior
during this whole ordeal has been
technology you know a lot of people have
taken advantage of technology to keep
those
zoom calls going and the phone calls and
facetime and you know all the stuff that
that people have used to keep in touch
it hasn’t been an adequate um
alternative
but i think it’s it’s one of those
things where you’re making the most out
of a bad situation yeah
so i think that was all we had today
we’re gonna take a quick break come back
we’ll get your closing remarks and
finish up with the podcast business
alrighty all right
[Music]
go for your closing remarks
alrighty so to
all of the teens and parents out there
going back to school during covet is
going to be hard on pretty much everyone
whether it be just having to go back to
school after pretty much not having a
year of school last year
or just having to deal with the covert
protocols and everything like that
no matter what the reason it’s going to
probably be stressful on any on everyone
and
well
we’ll get through it we’ve so far gone
through
almost an entire year of this we’ll
probably be able to get through the rest
of it kobed will probably be around for
a while but
it is getting better and
if you are
feeling these
if you if your child does have these
anxious thoughts make sure they have a
good support
system and make sure they’re also
following covert rules so that
cover can be over sooner rather than
later okay and we’re all wishing for
that that’s for sure
before we do go i do want to once again
invite our audience to subscribe to the
podcast audio versions of this podcast
can be found listed as insights into
teens
video versions of all of our podcasts
are available listed as insights into
things you can find them anywhere you
can get a podcast apple spotify google
and so forth
i would also invite folks to write to us
give us your feedback give us some show
suggestions we did start putting some
new show schedule together we’re working
on some new shows for us we’ve got a
couple already in the pipeline but we’re
always looking for suggestions on new
topics to talk about the stuff that
affects our audience
we’ll do the research we’ll write it up
we’ll address it and talk about it and
hopefully we can help some folks out
you can email us at comments at
insightsintothingscom
you can hit us on twitter at insights
underscore things
you can get high-res versions of all of
our videos on youtube at youtubecom
slash insights into things
we do stream five days a week on twitch
at twitchtv slash insights into things
you can find audio versions of this
podcast on the web at podcast
podcastinsightsintoteenscom
you can get us on facebook at
facebookcom insights into things
podcast or on instagram
at
instagramcom insights into things or
links to all those on our website at
insights into thingscom and you
and don’t forget to check out our other
two podcasts insights and entertainment
hosted by you and mommy and insights
into tomorrow our monthly podcast hosted
by you and my brother sam which we’ll be
recording this weekend so we’ll have a
new one uh new insights into tomorrow
next week yay
so uh but that’s it for today thank you
for listening and watching that’s
another one in the books bye everyone
bye
[Music]
you