b'going to turn out okay. We used the phrase, person during this pandemic. We have alwaysone foot in front of the other, a lot. It was our felt adolescents need a therapist, whether away of moving through the issues that mental health issue is at the forefront or not.presented, and reminding ourselves we were Our therapist is as important to us as ourgoing to make it through if we just kept primary care physician and dentist.putting one foot in front of the other. We did Activity: Because we were at home, we quicklynot ignore things that reared their heads (see felt cabin fever. Movement is healing, and sotoxicpositivitybelow);weaddressedany we made sure to keep our bodies moving.issue that arose. Some days they were things as simple as a walkFlexibility: We knew when issues arose, that around the neighborhood; other days we wereexibility was key to addressing and resolving able to play golf (I watched). Thankfully golf isthem. Thankfully, our high school knew that a social-distancing style of sport. Other thingsthe virtual learning wasnt optimal, but doable, that Sami did to take breaks were paint, read,and exibility was important. If the Wi-Fi went journal - all things that were helpful to her.down, as it did one day smack in the middle Avoid Toxic Positivity: Finally, you might haveof a big chemistry test, the teachers workedwith Sami to make other arrangements. heard about toxic positivity. Toxic positivityWe see parenting as a exible role. Things is when we minimize, deny, or invalidate achange, and while we have our boundaries, personsemotionalexperiencesbyaskingrules, and expectations, we also understand them to be happy all the time. It is a bit moretheimportanceofbeingexiblewithour in-depth than that. Asking a young person toteenager. overgeneralize positivity in the face of a diculttime is diminishing the emotional experiencesSupport Network / Resources: In everything that person is facing. When we do that withwe do, a support network and resources are our adolescents, we are setting them up tokey in helping us be successful. This is true for question the emotions they are feeling. Foradults and children. With the stress theories, example, are they right to be upset that a friendresources are what help us dene the events just lied to them? Or, with toxic positivity,we are experiencing. We can dene them as should they be thankful they have friends atcrisis situations, or we can dene them as all?Insteadofovergeneralizingpositivity,dicult, but we can persevere.Resources for utilize active listening when talking with youradults might be a bit dierent than those for adolescents, address what they are feeling,adolescents, but many are the same. We (her acknowledge their emotions. parents) were a huge resource for Sami. Sheknows we are always there for her, she can These lessons learned during the time of thecome to us with the scariest of worries, and pandemic are important ones at any time. Bywe will guide her through them. Thats the communicating with our kids, being exible,relationship we established with Sami. Next, utilizing our support networks, helping themwe knew where we needed other resources stay active, and avoiding toxic positivity, wetohelpher.Forexample,atherapist.Our can help our children during any time of stresstherapist has been an extraordinary support including the stresses brought on by MS. msfocusmagazine.org 14'