DETROIT – The COVID-19 pandemic has shown everyone how easy it can be to feel overwhelmed, and that is especially true for parents. We hear so much about self care these days, but what do parents really need to get through this back to school season heading into fall? “One of the things I heard this summer again in preparation for fall was to on focus on the next 20 feet,” Hay said. If I’m having a bad day, then only think about that day. “Sometimes people will say pick one or two activities per child, but I’m really following the take one or two activities per family,” Hay said.

And if parents are feeling stressed, the children probably are too. More than half of all parents in a recent survey said their children are feeling anxious or depressed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trust in the world and trust in our parents,” Rockwell said. “As adults we’re afraid and so how can our children do anything but absorb that feeling and also feel afraid?” Rockwell asked. So we’re exercising this muscle, the brain and we can’t do it without making friends with our brain when we’re very anxious,” Rockwell said.