How Are Your Kids?

I am hard-pressed in deciding what to say personally on this topic. 

I am from the Baby Boomer generation and yes, I am aware of our reputation. In terms of thinking about mental health of boys and girls, I can offer a couple of thoughts.

One, in my day, most adults, even parents and teachers, did not care much about your feelings. There was no hand-holding but a lot of "grow up," "stop crying," and "you'll get over it" or "you'll grow out of it." And did we even talk about LGBTQ issues? The rights and opportunities of girls and women? Racism? Nope. For all the stress today in talking out loud about these issues, I am glad for the awareness of them and for the expectation that today, schools will not ignore these issues as if they don't exist. 

Two, on the other hand, I wonder if parents are not themselves overly anxious about any change or difference they see in their kids. No two children are alike so expect the unexpected. Children go through many phases and yeah, do grow out of some of them. Young people like to try on different hats and that is nothing new. Young people sometimes feel the entire world doesn't understand them and it can be quite the drama. 

But what makes today different are two things that cannot be ignored - the pandemic and social media.  Let's start with the pandemic.

I freely admit that early on in the pandemic, I thought many parents were overreacting to what was happening to their kids. I based that on the idea that throughout history, MANY kids were affected by many issues (war, disease, etc.) But as the pandemic dragged on and on, I joined the very concerned crowd. I understand districts/cities were trying to err on the side of caution because no one had a clear idea of what was going to happen.

But the students of the pandemic (the SPs, I call them) experienced a lot of stress and upset. Naturally, kids usually model what their parents say but there was too much going on for parents to try to stay positive 24/7. 

Distance learning did NOT work. For a small group, it was fine. For an even smaller group, they preferred it and wanted it to continue. But for most kids, it was burdensome and uninteresting. Only time will tell what the total outcome will be for that generation of students. I hope it isn't years of catch up.

One thing that should be asked of school board candidates is what they want to see the district doing to be ready for the NEXT pandemic (which has a big likelihood of happening). The district CANNOT allow itself to be caught flat-footed again.

Next is social media. For one thing, I think the government really wasn't watching how much affect social media was having on the entire U.S. population. Companies gathering data on their users and allowing misinformation and lies and cruelty to go out into the public ether? Sure, they're private so they get to do as they please.

What a mistake.

One thing I can tell you as a Baby Boomer is that back in my day, if you wanted to spread a rumor about someone, you had a lot of dialing to do. (I say that as a joke.) But, being serious, I cannot believe how easily you can destroy a 12-year old child by just hitting "send." 

I don't envy parents today. It's a rough time. Because the old kid line of "everyone has one" is probably something parents hear about smart phones. It would take the sharpest and toughest of parents to control what happens on your kid's smart phone. Plus, you get the other adage of "what can you do? and a shrug from other parents. I am amazed at the number of parents who act like there is almost nothing you can do today to protect your child and their data.

As well, social media and phones have taken over many kids' lives. I thought video game playing was a scourge but smart phones are even worse. I wonder how many parents truly know how much screen time their child has each day. How many exhausted parents default to screen use for even toddlers because they don't have the time and/or energy to argue? 

So some things are within parental control and others are not. 

But parents you tell me - how do you think YOUR student is doing mentally and academically? Has time soothed any of the rough edges? What has your school done right? Wrong? What should SPS be doing now that they aren't?

Are you worried that your child will get exposed to something on social media that you don't want them to see? Do you worry that your parenting is getting undone but something on social media? 

And should the government step in to regulate social media?