April 28, 2020 | Ian Rosser

Ian: [00:00:00] Hey guys, it’s Ian with Kentucky SPIN. I’m here to talk about some tips that parents can do with their youth, since everybody’s at home right now. And some different ways to get through that together. So one thing that can really help is let the youth choose what they want to work on. So, you know, the youth are probably doing some schoolwork at home or maybe some other act...

Ian: [00:00:00] Hey guys, it’s Ian with Kentucky SPIN. I’m here to talk about some tips that parents can do with their youth, since everybody’s at home right now. And some different ways to get through that together. So one thing that can really help is let the youth choose what they want to work on. So, you know, the youth are probably doing some schoolwork at home or maybe some other activities, and you know, it may just go smoother if they can kind of direct what they work on first.

That might take a lot of pressure off of what they have to do, given that they don’t have like a desk and their typical work environment with all their friends and stuff. And at least gives them some choice in the matter, will maybe calm them down and give them some, some energy in a good way. So another thing that a lot of people are doing right now is exercises that you can do from home, especially since all the gyms are closed right now. And it’s a good way to let loose steam and get that energy out.

But also, you know, you can work out and still build your muscles up and still, you know, try to keep yourself in shape and stuff like that if you [00:01:00] choose to. That kind of segues me into the next thing, which is taking breaks. And you can do an exercise during a break. And breaks a really good, because, you know, youth can feel overwhelmed sometimes, especially if they have a lot to do, or they just have a lot of energy and they’re stuck inside and they can’t really go anywhere.

That’s a good way to kind of take a break, do some kind of exercise or something, and then try to segue back into work once the heart rate comes back down. Something like that, just to kinda change up the day and get some of that energy going. Another big thing is good communication, right? So communication between you as the parent and the youth.

So just kind of communicating, “Hey, you know, do you need a break? Are you ready to move to the next thing? What would you like to work on today?” Trying to guide them through their day, and trying to just really have good communication so that you and your youth are both on the same page. And that you can try to cater to their needs, cause it’s going to be difficult during this difficult time. But this is something that can really help smooth things out so that you all [00:02:00] understand one another and that, you can make sure that you can be there to aid their every single need. The last thing I want to leave you guys with is do something silly.

So sometimes, you know, I know it may sound crazy, but sometimes just having fun and do something silly together is a great way to just kind of break the tension and have fun with your day and stuff like that. A lot of people are doing Tiktok videos and challenges. Where you have like a dance off and you dance against friends and family members.

People are doing activities together, families are building stuff out of clay, doing all kinds of stuff if they don’t have internet access. So there’s tons of options out there, but do something fun. It’s worth it. All right. I hope these tips were helpful for you and until next time, peace.