By Ryan Berenz
There is no precedent for the challenges facing parents, students and educators as COVID-19 continues to throw life into chaos entering the new school year.
“I’ve been spending many hours since March on the phone helping hundreds of families who have been in disarray — panic in the beginning — and are becoming more accepting of their daily circumstances right now and how tough it is,” says Supernanny‘s Jo Frost.
The parenting expert is back on Lifetime (Tuesdays).
Frost shared some advice and encouragement for parents suffering back-to-school anxiety:
Create A Flexible Plan Of Action: “I think it’s important that families come together and communicate what that plan looks like and that your older kids are a part of that family conversation,” Frost says. “We are teaching them to be more self-disciplined, to have more resilience, and to understand that what we create in our homes and our living environments, being conducive for the education that will be provided — it will be not quite the same, but let’s not throw the towel in — and make sure that we can set a realistic expectation of what we can do safely and our kids get the education they need.”
You’re Doing Your Best: “There are parents right now that are fretting that they cannot be a teacher,” Frost says. “Nobody is expecting them to do the job of a teacher. It is a very dedicated, unique job, and that’s why those teachers do it. But you are required as a parent to do the best that you can, and the best that you can — I want parents to know — is enough. It is enough, because a child learning something at the age of 9 or 10 is not going to make or break their career when they’re 23, is it? Parents need to cut themselves some slack.”
Listen And Love: “It is important for our children to have the open dialogue that they need to be able to come to us and to be able to express emotionally about when they’re finding times difficult,” Frost says. “And to be the wing that they can go under to feel safe: Children need stability, and security, and safety, and protection, and our love. The way that we guide our children and raise them I’m hoping will be certainly the light that they need in feeling very secure at a time when all of us adults know there is a lot of uncertainty.”
Don’t Write Off 2020: “We will all be in a different place, come hopefully the new year, so that we can learn from this year and respect that this year was about looking inwardly,” Frost says. “It was about understanding what was important for us, so that we can move forward with new rituals and new practices that truly honor ourselves and our families, and our community, and our neighbors, and our employees, and that we truly do learn to be a more empathetic world, and people, and community.”