Family & Relationships

Our family and other parents in our circle are growing more and more concerned about the ongoing changes with the upcoming school year. Can you provide tips on managing the unknown, like dealing with a lack of set schedules and how to know the right amount of daily structure to provide our children? How do we make up for their lack of social interaction opportunities while keeping their screen time at a minimum?

Our daughter was adopted and we don’t know if we should tell her. If we do tell her, we don’t know when to tell her.

There are many different ways we have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. One area of life that has drastically changed is how we celebrate or recognize meaningful life events. Special events like graduation, religious ceremonies, weddings, prom, anniversaries, baby showers, funerals, etc. are important rituals that mark the end of a developmental milestone while ushering in a different, future life stage. It is for this reason that it is quite normal for people to feel a great sense of loss and grief about having traditional ways of practicing significant rituals so disrupted, and in most cases, entirely cancelled.

During this time of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, it is especially important to do your best to stay healthy—both physically and mentally. While you may be feeling extra stressed, anxious, or alone, take some time to step back and do a self-check of your mental health on a weekly or even daily basis.

Bad news can come in a variety of forms, from job loss, a relationship breakup, a surprising diagnosis, or even to the death of a loved one. Receiving bad news can affect your body and life in a multitude of ways, even triggering your fight or flight response. According to Medical News Today, “everyone responds to tension and trauma differently, but know that steps can be taken to tackle the mountain ahead, deal with the bad news, adopt coping mechanisms, and make the situation less traumatic,