Strategies For Dealing With Social Distancing With Teenagers | Sandy Fowler | Episode 116

With scheduling changes, living in close quarters, loss of stability and routines as well as income, many families are struggling to deal with social distancing. Stress-relief coach and Mighty Parenting podcast host Sandy Fowler shares strategies for managing stress and anxiety, dealing with social distancing with teenagers, and even how to find the good in all of this. Coronavirus is a big issue and families need strategies to ride the emotional wave. Sandy Fowler shares those strategies.

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A Favorite Quote from the Show: 

“The good news is this is a time we can harness to help our teens and create some good in our family.”

High Points From Our Conversation About Strategies For Dealing With Social Distancing With Teenagers:

Living in close quarters, loss of stability and routines as well as income for many families gives us plenty to stress about with Coronavirus. There can be friction, fear, and grief.

When we find ourselves dealing with social distancing with teenagers we need to take care of ourselves, manage the stress and anxiety, and encourage our teenagers to do the same.

It can be difficult to make the choice to take care of ourselves but it is essential.

Anxiety impacts our nervous system and decreases our immunity. Use box breathing and 5-4-3-2-1 breathing to reduce anxiety. Visit sandyfowler.com/coronavirus to get additional help with this.

Reducing stress means having a plan and making some choices. Knowing what we are going to do decreases our stress and helps to keep our mind from racing with possibilities and logistics. 

Facing tough choices creates stress but once we make a choice, the stress reduces or even goes away.

We need to allow our teens and ourselves to experience then release the emotions we’ll encounter during this time.

Communicating with our teenagers should be done with respect and without judgement.

Social distancing is creating a lot of loss for our teenagers. They are missing out on many things that are important to them and they will grieve some of those losses. It’s important that while we are dealing with social distancing we allow them time and space to experience that grief.

We can take advantage of this time of social distancing to slow down, teach our teens important life skills, share our values with them, and strengthen family bonds.

Everyone is dealing with social distancing. We can give back during this time by bringing groceries to elderly or at-risk neighbors or donating blood.

There is a blood shortage and the only way to increase the blood supply is through donation. Experts say you cannot contract Coronavirus through blood donation. Versity, the Red Cross and other blood banks are taking extra care in cleaning facilities and keeping donors safe.

Teens and parents can donate blood together.

We need to have fun even in difficult times. Love and laughter strengthen our immune systems.

Do a quick, daily check in for news then stop trolling news and social media sites. Spend time watching comedians, playing charades or Pictionary, doing MadLibs, sharing funny family stories or something else that makes you laugh. 

Resources Mentioned in Show:

Episode 103—Jude Bijou shows us how to manage our emotions in a healthy way.

Episode 94—Dr. Laura Dabney shows us how being selfish is good for us and our teenager.

Episode 80—Sandy Fowler shares strategies for creating a stress-free family vacation. These same strategies can be adapted when dealing with social isolation.

Episode 15 —Mark Hundley helps us understand how to help our teenagers deal with loss

sandyfowler.com/coronavirus

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Our Host Sandy Fowler:

Sandy Fowler is a stress-relief coach, emotional-wellness speaker, and podcast host who is passionate about helping people make powerful choices that impact their lives in the best possible way. Whether she is speaking to a group, hosting a podcast, coaching a client, or guiding a Divine Sleep® guided meditation session, she is always helping busy women and parents find simple ways to make life better. Her natural curiosity paired with her down-to-earth, practical approach to living, working, and prospering allows her to help them reduce stress, create emotional wellness, and take their lives back from the busyness of modern-day living.

To learn more or connect with Sandy visit sandyfowler.com