Insights Into Teens: Episode 122 “Return to school during COVID”

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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?

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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?
    • [Show Plugs]

[TRANSITION]

   [SEGMENT 1] 

Returning to School During COVID

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-help-your-child-adjust-to-going-back-to-school-during-the-pandemic/

https://cle.clinic/3sPEMb3

  • 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.
  • 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.”

[TRANSITION]

[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

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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]

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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

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[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

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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

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