If you’re anxious about sending your children back to school, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent poll from ABC News/Ipsos showed that 45 percent of parents don’t want their kids in the classroom at all. But whether your kids are in school or learning at home, there’s still plenty of worry to go around. How do you cope? Here are a few suggestions from a variety of counselors and mental health professionals that can help.
Express Your Feelings
Noticing the anxiety that’s going on inside is half the battle – then let it out. “I would encourage parents to share this feeling with their partners or other family and friends,” says Michael Consuelos, MD, a senior medical advisor with the mental health management platform NeuroFlow in Philadelphia. Simply releasing what you’re feeling can often take the power of it.
Teach Your Kids How to Navigate
This starts with talking to your kids about what social distancing is, what it looks like, and how to wash their hands thoroughly. Fran Walfish, PsyD, MFT, and a family and relationship psychotherapist in Beverly Hills, Calif., suggests making up real-life situations and getting your kids to “think in advance about what they would say or do to protect themselves while preserving a friendship.” For instance, a friend of your son stands too close to him and asks to borrow a ruler. How should he react? Or your daughter is eating lunch and a friend reaches in and takes a few chips from her Doritos bag. What should she do? You can probably come up with many other scenarios that help your kids figure out the best options for keeping safe.
Have Honest Conversations
Kathleen Rivera, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in children and adolescents at Nuvance Health in Danbury, Conn., strongly suggests talking with your kids about the situation, no matter how young they are, and asking them how they’re feeling about the changes in their school environment. What things about school do you miss the most? How is this new learning set-up working for you? What are things you don’t miss about school? Claudia Kohner, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and creator of IntroDUCKtion to Very, Very Big Feelings app, says that if you have very young children, give them some colored pencils and a coloring book. Sit down with them and help them create a homemade book that describes the changes in their school setting and reflects their feelings that go along with it. Encouraging imaginative play with dolls and stuffed animals is also a great way to help your kids express what they’re going through.
Practice Self-Care
In these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to be kind to yourself – and not judge yourself for failing to cross everything off your to-do list. “You don’t have to do it all,” says Elizabeth Derickson, MSW, LCSW, RPT, a therapist with online therapy provider Talkspace. This is her No. 1 piece of advice for parents who are dealing with back-to-school anxiety. She suggests setting up realistic expectations and acknowledging that there will be both good days and bad days, and allowing yourself “to learn from the bad days, move on and rock those good days.”
Embrace Change
In a few months, the landscape of your life might look radically different than it does today. That’s why being able to adapt to whatever new circumstance presents itself is key. According to Dr. Rivera, “Flexibility is the most important thing in this whole process.” Knowing you have every right to reverse your decisions is OK – and empowering.
Despite the seemingly never-ending stream of worries that inevitably crop up in our new abnormal, remember: the most constant thing in life is change. Things will get better.
If you’re anxious about sending your children back to school, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent poll from ABC News/Ipsos showed that 45 percent of parents don’t want their kids in the classroom at all. But whether your kids are in school or learning at home, there’s still plenty of worry to go around. How do you cope? Here are a few suggestions from a variety of counselors and mental health professionals that can help.
Express Your Feelings
Noticing the anxiety that’s going on inside is half the battle – then let it out. “I would encourage parents to share this feeling with their partners or other family and friends,” says Michael Consuelos, MD, a senior medical advisor with the mental health management platform NeuroFlow in Philadelphia. Simply releasing what you’re feeling can often take the power of it.
Teach Your Kids How to Navigate
This starts with talking to your kids about what social distancing is, what it looks like, and how to wash their hands thoroughly. Fran Walfish, PsyD, MFT, and a family and relationship psychotherapist in Beverly Hills, Calif., suggests making up real-life situations and getting your kids to “think in advance about what they would say or do to protect themselves while preserving a friendship.” For instance, a friend of your son stands too close to him and asks to borrow a ruler. How should he react? Or your daughter is eating lunch and a friend reaches in and takes a few chips from her Doritos bag. What should she do? You can probably come up with many other scenarios that help your kids figure out the best options for keeping safe.
Have Honest Conversations
Kathleen Rivera, MD, a psychiatrist who specializes in children and adolescents at Nuvance Health in Danbury, Conn., strongly suggests talking with your kids about the situation, no matter how young they are, and asking them how they’re feeling about the changes in their school environment. What things about school do you miss the most? How is this new learning set-up working for you? What are things you don’t miss about school? Claudia Kohner, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and creator of IntroDUCKtion to Very, Very Big Feelings app, says that if you have very young children, give them some colored pencils and a coloring book. Sit down with them and help them create a homemade book that describes the changes in their school setting and reflects their feelings that go along with it. Encouraging imaginative play with dolls and stuffed animals is also a great way to help your kids express what they’re going through.
Practice Self-Care
In these uncertain times, it’s more important than ever to be kind to yourself – and not judge yourself for failing to cross everything off your to-do list. “You don’t have to do it all,” says Elizabeth Derickson, MSW, LCSW, RPT, a therapist with online therapy provider Talkspace. This is her No. 1 piece of advice for parents who are dealing with back-to-school anxiety. She suggests setting up realistic expectations and acknowledging that there will be both good days and bad days, and allowing yourself “to learn from the bad days, move on and rock those good days.”
Embrace Change
In a few months, the landscape of your life might look radically different than it does today. That’s why being able to adapt to whatever new circumstance presents itself is key. According to Dr. Rivera, “Flexibility is the most important thing in this whole process.” Knowing you have every right to reverse your decisions is OK – and empowering.
Despite the seemingly never-ending stream of worries that inevitably crop up in our new abnormal, remember: the most constant thing in life is change. Things will get better.
These articles provide general information on tax, accounting, and financial topics for small businesses and individuals. They are educational in nature and are not specific legal, accounting, financial, tax, or other professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. This content was prepared by Service2Client and may have been reviewed or edited by the website owner for accuracy and compliance. Look for a trust mark below for verification details. No representation is made that any approach described will achieve a particular result, and no regulatory or professional body has reviewed or endorsed this content. Because each situation is different, readers should consult a qualified professional about their specific circumstances before acting. Images accompanying these articles are protected by copyright and may not be copied or reused.
Digital marketing is not a new phenomenon. However, new realities imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of digital marketing for businesses. Basically, digital marketing revolves around using digital channels to advertise. Such channels include mobile devices, search engines, social media, websites, email, and others to help reach consumers. The purpose is to create a relationship with potential online customers to influence their buying decisions.
Why Digital Marketing
For starters, with digital marketing, you are able to personalize your marketing and target your ideal audience. It offers the ability to target an audience based on location, age, preference, and other specific details that define the intended consumer of your product or service. In the end, you don’t waste money on audiences that might not even buy your product or service.
With the availability of artificial intelligence, it’s easy to identify trends, carry out competitor research, and accumulate data that aid quick decision making. This kind of marketing is data-led. Considering that five to 10 hours of a person’s day is spent on the internet, this creates an opportunity to familiarize consumers with your brand and create relationships that lead to sales.
What’s more, chatbots are available on business websites or social media accounts to answer customer questions even when the business is closed. This means a customer visiting your page does not leave without some information that could help in their purchasing decision.
In addition to being able to expand your reach at a lower cost, your business can enhance brand loyalty by maintaining personal contact with clients even after making sales.
The best part of digital marketing is the ability to track the results of your marketing in real-time.
How This Can Help Grow Your Business
First, digital marketing gives all businesses a fair share of the market. Today, a business can connect with customers cheaply over posts on social media.
What this means is that a business can instantly communicate with customers to inform them of their products or services and get instant feedback.
Don’t ignore the fact that people today get information from the internet. A lot of purchase decisions start with an online search. A potential customer expects to find information regarding your products on a website, social media, or from reviews by other users.
Customers also want to determine if your business and products are a good fit for their needs.
In the event that they cannot locate your business, you will lose a potential client to a competitor.
A good online presence can help potential clients find you and possibly even become customers.
How to Get the Best of Digital Marketing
The good thing about digital marketing is that it will exist as long as people are using technology. The trick is to use strategies that help you stay ahead of the competition.
Digital marketing has been proven to be the best strategy to acquire new customers as well as maintain a relationship with existing customers.
One of the hard and fast rules about digital marketing is that no one strategy fits all businesses. Digital marketing is constantly changing – meaning that businesses have to make frequent changes to their strategies.
In order to stay ahead of the competition, you can take advantage of referral traffic as it gives credibility to your brand. This is possible by connecting with industry leaders in your niche.
You can’t afford to ignore analytics. Analytics help you discover what is working and what is not working.
Use high-quality content to draw the interest of potential customers. Sacrificing quality for volume can cost you potential leads.
Select social media platforms where your potential customers are likely to be. Understanding your target market will help you reduce the time and cost spent on digital marketing, as you will be able to follow your clients where they hang out.
Digital Marketing is the Way to Go
As long as the internet continues to grow, businesses have little choice but to get involved in digital marketing. Gone are the days when social media was considered merely a place to pass the time.
For some business owners, it might be challenging to know where and how to start, considering that digital marketing is quite an extensive field. The most important thing is to establish a goal for what you want to achieve. If not well done, it can cost your business a lot of unnecessary expense.
How to Make the Most of Digital Marketing
September 1, 2020 · Blog, What's New in Technology
⏱ 4 min read
Digital marketing is not a new phenomenon. However, new realities imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of digital marketing for businesses. Basically, digital marketing revolves around using digital channels to advertise. Such channels include mobile devices, search engines, social media, websites, email, and others to help reach consumers. The purpose is to create a relationship with potential online customers to influence their buying decisions.
Why Digital Marketing
For starters, with digital marketing, you are able to personalize your marketing and target your ideal audience. It offers the ability to target an audience based on location, age, preference, and other specific details that define the intended consumer of your product or service. In the end, you don’t waste money on audiences that might not even buy your product or service.
With the availability of artificial intelligence, it’s easy to identify trends, carry out competitor research, and accumulate data that aid quick decision making. This kind of marketing is data-led. Considering that five to 10 hours of a person’s day is spent on the internet, this creates an opportunity to familiarize consumers with your brand and create relationships that lead to sales.
What’s more, chatbots are available on business websites or social media accounts to answer customer questions even when the business is closed. This means a customer visiting your page does not leave without some information that could help in their purchasing decision.
In addition to being able to expand your reach at a lower cost, your business can enhance brand loyalty by maintaining personal contact with clients even after making sales.
The best part of digital marketing is the ability to track the results of your marketing in real-time.
How This Can Help Grow Your Business
First, digital marketing gives all businesses a fair share of the market. Today, a business can connect with customers cheaply over posts on social media.
What this means is that a business can instantly communicate with customers to inform them of their products or services and get instant feedback.
Don’t ignore the fact that people today get information from the internet. A lot of purchase decisions start with an online search. A potential customer expects to find information regarding your products on a website, social media, or from reviews by other users.
Customers also want to determine if your business and products are a good fit for their needs.
In the event that they cannot locate your business, you will lose a potential client to a competitor.
A good online presence can help potential clients find you and possibly even become customers.
How to Get the Best of Digital Marketing
The good thing about digital marketing is that it will exist as long as people are using technology. The trick is to use strategies that help you stay ahead of the competition.
Digital marketing has been proven to be the best strategy to acquire new customers as well as maintain a relationship with existing customers.
One of the hard and fast rules about digital marketing is that no one strategy fits all businesses. Digital marketing is constantly changing – meaning that businesses have to make frequent changes to their strategies.
In order to stay ahead of the competition, you can take advantage of referral traffic as it gives credibility to your brand. This is possible by connecting with industry leaders in your niche.
You can’t afford to ignore analytics. Analytics help you discover what is working and what is not working.
Use high-quality content to draw the interest of potential customers. Sacrificing quality for volume can cost you potential leads.
Select social media platforms where your potential customers are likely to be. Understanding your target market will help you reduce the time and cost spent on digital marketing, as you will be able to follow your clients where they hang out.
Digital Marketing is the Way to Go
As long as the internet continues to grow, businesses have little choice but to get involved in digital marketing. Gone are the days when social media was considered merely a place to pass the time.
For some business owners, it might be challenging to know where and how to start, considering that digital marketing is quite an extensive field. The most important thing is to establish a goal for what you want to achieve. If not well done, it can cost your business a lot of unnecessary expense.
Disclaimer
These articles provide general information on tax, accounting, and financial topics for small businesses and individuals. They are educational in nature and are not specific legal, accounting, financial, tax, or other professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. This content was prepared by Service2Client and may have been reviewed or edited by the website owner for accuracy and compliance. Look for a trust mark below for verification details. No representation is made that any approach described will achieve a particular result, and no regulatory or professional body has reviewed or endorsed this content. Because each situation is different, readers should consult a qualified professional about their specific circumstances before acting. Images accompanying these articles are protected by copyright and may not be copied or reused.
If you’re anxious about sending your children back to school, you’re not alone. In fact, a recent poll from ABC News/Ipsos showed that 45 percent of parents don’t want their kids in the classroom at all. But whether your kids are in school or learning at home, there’s still plenty of worry to go around. How do you cope? Here are a few suggestions from a variety of counselors and mental health professionals that can help.
Digital marketing is not a new phenomenon. However, new realities imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of digital marketing for businesses. Basically, digital marketing revolves around using digital channels to advertise. Such channels include mobile devices, search engines, social media, websites, email, and others to help reach consumers. The purpose is to create a relationship with potential online customers to influence their buying decisions.