anxiety
20 - 07/20 /12:58
MSNBC broadcast an interview with five Pediatricians about re-opening schools. Towards the end of the 3-minute piece, the doctors were polled about sending their own kids back to school. The studio host was flummoxed by their unity.
Mark McDonald, a psychiatrist who specializes in children and at-risk youth, testified about re-opening schools at a hearing of the Orange County, CA Board of Supervisors (6/24/2020). His testimony addressed a key reality.
Mark McDonald, a psychiatrist who specializes in children and at-risk youth, testified about re-opening schools at a hearing of the Orange County, CA Board of Supervisors (6/24/2020). His testimony addressed a key reality.
“Children are not dying of Covid-19,” he said. “Children are not passing the disease on to adults. So the only question is, ‘Why are we having this meeting tonight?’
“We are meeting because we adults are afraid.
“As parents, we will face many moments of anxiety: seeing out children off on their first day of kindergarten, their first day of camp, their first year of college. We may want to keep them home to protect them from the world—which can indeed be a frightening place.
“But let’s be clear, when we do that we are not really protecting our children. We are only attempting to manage our own anxiety, and we do that at their expense. We are acting as negligent parents. We are harming our children. We are failing them.
“We must agree to make decisions in the best interest of the children. If we do not—if, paralyzed by fear we continue to act out of self-interest—we will ensure an entire generation of traumatized young adults, consigned to perpetual adolescence and residency in their parents’ garages, unable to move through life with independence, courage and confidence.
“They deserve better. We owe it to them as parents.”
Opening schools is a hard issue just now. But Dr McDonald has hit on the key issue, the elephant in the room. We are afraid.
This world wants you afraid. Jesus promised peace.
You have a choice. Look to this world and embrace perpetual anxiety. Or, look to Christ and be flooded with beyond-this-world peace. ~
Blessings,
Dan Nygaard
“We are meeting because we adults are afraid.
“As parents, we will face many moments of anxiety: seeing out children off on their first day of kindergarten, their first day of camp, their first year of college. We may want to keep them home to protect them from the world—which can indeed be a frightening place.
“But let’s be clear, when we do that we are not really protecting our children. We are only attempting to manage our own anxiety, and we do that at their expense. We are acting as negligent parents. We are harming our children. We are failing them.
“We must agree to make decisions in the best interest of the children. If we do not—if, paralyzed by fear we continue to act out of self-interest—we will ensure an entire generation of traumatized young adults, consigned to perpetual adolescence and residency in their parents’ garages, unable to move through life with independence, courage and confidence.
“They deserve better. We owe it to them as parents.”
Opening schools is a hard issue just now. But Dr McDonald has hit on the key issue, the elephant in the room. We are afraid.
This world wants you afraid. Jesus promised peace.
You have a choice. Look to this world and embrace perpetual anxiety. Or, look to Christ and be flooded with beyond-this-world peace. ~
Blessings,
Dan Nygaard