To continue our discussion on mental health and the impact it has had on children and families, not to mention the anxiety many of us now feel with schools re-opening, we invited clinical psychologist, Matt Zakreski (Dr. Matt), to provide some guidance to parents and caregivers wanting to know how they can better support their children and themselves. We also discuss the impact that this has had on neurodivergent children and how this pandemic has been affecting them. Dr. Matt gives us some interesting advice we were not expecting regarding parents who still want the remote option, especially with the looming Delta variant very present right now. 

Dr. Matt illustrated a very important point. If you are at a dinner party, and the house sets on fire, do you continue to eat and carry on a conversation as if there is no fire? Unfortunately, too many people, including those in the education system, are acting that way. The reality is that we have been in fight-or-flight mode for the past 17 months, and we have to acknowledge that. Dr. Matt advises that rather than pretend that everything is fine, we need to own our feelings, similar to what Rebecca Anuru and Karmita Morgan-Randall mentioned in our last episode on mental health. Dr. Matt emphasizes that it is ok to be upset right now. We also continued the discussion about educators insisting that students turn on the camera during remote learning.  

*Please note that New Normal in Parenting is only a platform to discuss issues affecting parents during the pandemic. We neither endorse nor advise against any advice expert panelists share with us.