COVID-19 has cancelled school for the rest of the year. While many students might be happy about that, what about our seniors—that means missing out on spring break, prom, the bittersweet last days at school saying goodbye to friends and beloved teachers, signing yearbooks, and even graduation. It is a time of disappointment, sadness, loss that many students look forward to during their school curriculum. Because of COVID-19, these much-looked-forward events won’t be happening. So how do you help students and even parents deal with such grief?
These kinds of losses can cause kids to experience similar stages of grief: the first is denial of the reality of the situation and hope it will go away in time; then there is the anger and frustration, which may lead to sadness, and maybe depression. It may be hard to watch our kids suffer in this time of crisis and parents may want to try to fix it, but then that wouldn’t allow them to experience loss and pain—pain that helps them become stronger and more resilient, and open to flexibility and change.
Kids who are exposed to adversity do seem to become more flexible in their thinking. It usually allows to see that things may not always go as planned, allowing them to accept change more readily. It is much like when a parent loses a job or a divorce. It teaches kids to navigate around potentially moving resources for activities or items to help manage relationships with their parents. While these such life events are hard, the bright side is that it can build up their life toolbox which enables them to learn to be agile and accept the inevitable curves that life will throw their way.
No comments:
Post a Comment