Best We Can Parenting Series:
When the Doors Open
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, BStrong Together was honored to partner with the Barrington Area Library for the Best We Can Parenting Series – a new virtual parenting series to help parents navigate the challenges of our new world.
As the stay-at-home order began to be lifted and the doors began to open, we started the work of creating a “new normal.” In Session 6, Rita Rippentrop, LCPC, Clinical Director at Stenzel Clinical Services and BStrong Together Board President, joined us to talk about how to begin to define our new normal, establish and implement new rules or expectations that best meet the needs of our individual family, and manage our own feelings and those of our children as we go back out into the world.
Questions asked during the session include:
- How can we engage our kids in the process of determining what is safe and comfortable for our family?
- Given the increase in exhaustion and irritability in our family, how important is it for parents to focus on keeping the peace?
- How do I talk to my kids about being safe? They have been told that they should stay inside to keep them safe and now we are saying they can go outside. What should I say if they are afraid?
- My teen will NOT distance. it’s all defiance and out of my hands. What should I do?
- What advice do you have for assisting our children during this time?
RESOURCES
- Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett, Ph.D
- Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto from Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly
- Whole Brain Child by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
- Wired and Connected by Craig Knippenberg, LCSW
- How to Parent When States Open Up