As a parent, you may be over all the electronic communication happening. You’re trying your best to help your child or teenager stay on track in school during this difficult time. How can you motivate them? How can you help them better engage with their work? What can you do to foster their overall psychological and social well-being? Well, the answer may surprise you. Video chats CAN help. Check out the 4 reasons why we think video chat may actually be a good thing.
IT IS LITERALLY FREE!
There are a ton of services available for your kiddos to video chat on or they can simply use FaceTime. Taking advantage of the opportunities present during this time is important and one of those is learning new social skills or actually just perhaps getting better at utilizing different methods of communication.
THEY ARE MORE ISOLATED THAN THEY’VE EVER BEEN BEFORE.
Even if you and your family preferred being at home in the past, your kids got out 5 days a week and headed to school to work AND see their friends. I can’t recall a time where we’ve ever been this isolated from people outside of our houses. While family is great, it’s important to invest in your friendships and video chatting is a really easy way to do that. PLUS we need to see faces! Texting is great, chatting on the phone is great BUT nothing beats being able to see someone face to face.
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US.
I may be a little repetitive with this one, lets be real though, we all have relationships with people outside of our families and they are important for each of us. For your teens and kids though, learning to navigate relationships and interact with people even during difficult times is developmentally important. Life is full of ups and downs, if they can learn to interact with our friends and share work moments with them now, it is going to help them in the future.
THEY AREN’T USED TO BEING ISOLATED IN THE CLASSROOM.
Students are used to working with each other and next to each other! Students just aren’t used to a school day where they are completely isolated from each other. Carve out a specific time each day, an amount of time each day and a list of friends that they can work together with. If. You need to, run it by the teacher.
The buddy system has always been a great way that we can help each other and now it’s time to make sure student are using a buddy system to help. If you find yourself getting stuck in unproductive patterns at home as the next few weeks unfold, reach out to us here at The Houston Center for Valued Living, we are here to help.
Christen Sistrunk, MA LPC-S specializes in working with adolescents, adults, and seniors with a range of anxiety and depression related complaints in Houston, Texas. She is a founder of the Houston Center for Valued Living and is Co-President of OCD Texas, a non-profit support and advocacy group for people with OCD and related disorders. She is available to see clients in office and through web/teletherapy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Contact Christen to schedule an appointment.
Houston Center for Valued Living offers telehealth / online counseling sessions, walk and talk sessions, and in person counseling in Houston, Texas. To schedule an appointment, e-mail us at info@hcfvl.com or call 713-331-5538.