Stop asking, “Wasn’t Las Vegas enough?” “Wasn’t Sandy Hook enough?” Because we should never ask that when one is too many. Instead let’s ask a question that moves us all towards action. “How can dignity inspire us to do small yet powerful acts that make my community safer?”
For a year we have been creating and maintaining boundaries with other people in ways we never had to before. While these boundaries have protected our physical health, they have also often created social and emotional boundaries that hurt our emotional well-being.
How are young people finding ways to cope with the disappointments and tangible setbacks? How are teens taking care of their well-being during the pandemic?
The Social Dilemma: We are more confused, more misled, more angry, more fearful, more addicted, more distracted, and more helpless. We’re in quite a mess, so what do we do?
One of the most crucial skills we can model for the young people in our lives is emotional intelligence. However, many of us were not explicitly taught emotional regulation skills and often feel like we are at the mercy of the many emotions swirling throughout our homes.
We can all get overwhelmed by our emotions, especially during these challenging times. We need tools to manage ourselves and our relationships with our children.
Listen to siblings discuss surviving the boredom, dealing with parents, becoming friends, and conflict during quarantine.
No parent can manage their lives perfectly. It wasn’t possible before covid-19 — despite our curated social media posts to the contrary — and it’s not possible now. Trying to be the perfect parent has always distracted us from being the parents our children need us to be: people who can acknowledge our struggles and mistakes with messy grace.
Lots of schools experiment with curricula to teach kids social and emotional skills. But what tends to happen is, teachers are thrown in front of a group of middle schoolers and it’s assumed they know what to do. “Owning Up” is distinctive in that it starts with training teachers, helping them learn to identify and manage their own emotions.
Dignity gives us a new path forward to build the relationships we must have. Our schools depend on it. Our communities depend on it.
When we get on Instagram, we have a guarantee of social connection no matter how fleeting, superficial, or inconsequential to our lives.
Most high school guys will have a friend who needs help with a substance abuse problem. It’s one of those moments when you need to think about the times you’ve said, “I love you man, I love my guys, I’d do anything for my friends,” and realize that these are more than things you say. It’s what you do when it’s hard.
People we care about are hurting. The stakes are too high. So how can we reach out in a way that helps?
I was advised by my college counselors not to talk about my learning difference in college essays because colleges might look down on my test scores if they knew I had extra time. I hated the pressure that I felt to hide this part of myself from schools.
© 2021 Cultures of Dignity.
