Rock the crisis! Teens best-of-tips for teenagers

Everything was closed, the lessons – or not at all – online and the friends could rarely be met: “Somehow nobody could really believe that this is really,” say the students Leonie and Miriam, “that was pretty flagrant.” And their class friends: “It was quite a change in life. It took a while to get used to it.”

Yes, the Lockdowns were a challenge, especially for children and adolescents. “Many experienced social problems, physical changes and psychological stress, the consequences of which are still underway,” says sociologist Ulrike Zartler of the University of Vienna. You and your research team have carried out the science project with the teenagers.

“When Pandemic started, we were all very excited to see how our life path will continue in the future and whether normal life will continue to exist,” the school colleagues Alex and Julia remember. “Little by little I noticed how it is getting more and more serious and more serious,” says one of her classmates.

Zartler nods: the young people had to “do the phase of life in which autonomy and independence are actually developed and a replacement of the parents, largely spent in a kind of prescribed house arrest together with their parents. Moreover, their needs were hardly heard during Pandemic.”

Time was especially difficult for one of the students, she says: “I still had to move, I had another school, divorce from the parents.

But all these things are not everything that has remained of the Pandemie: “During this time, the young people gained a lot of experience and gained new skills,” says the sociologist: “They have extended digital skills, organized themselves independently and have strengthened communication skills.”

For some, time was also “a motor for resilience: they learned to adapt to the Pandeme -related limitations, to develop creative approaches with stress and new problem -solving strategies”.

And these skills can also apply to children and adolescents in other crises or to deal with them. Zartler and their team have investigated how specific this works.

Reflection Plus playlist, bucket list and Co.
During the discus in countless workshops on this subject with more than a hundred young people, the “Survival Guide” came out, that is, a “survival book”, from young people for young people.

And it is not only colorful and suitable, but also includes a wide range of areas around Pandemie or their “survival”.

For example, the young people have filtered out different types of pandemic from people who have collected the best apps, films, series and book tips for a crisis, pandemic playlists for relaxing and selling bad thoughts, collected receptions, etc.

Suggestions such as B to make a bucket list for the time after a crisis to “look forward to something in difficult times” were worked out together.

And the teenagers also have five “Golden Guidelines” summarized to survive:

1. Create structure: This includes the development of routines, creating diagrams, setting up daily structure, cleaning up rooms, etc.

2. Work self -care: Here you ask yourself why you feel good, eg music, relaxation, breathing exercises, write down negative thoughts and develop other perspectives.

3. Get emotional support: So look at who I can talk about feelings, worries, worries or topics that are currently working on the family to friends (in Lockdown times for example digital) for pets here is individual potential.

4. Develop learning strategies: Here this means, for example, to make order, plan well, make task lists, get support, learn regularly.

5. Design leisure time: Even if institutions are blocked and friends are forbidden, you can be creative and move, play games, cook, read, spend time in nature, try a new hobby, etc.

And very important, the young people emphasize: don’t forget that every crisis will pass.

The thing with the “stolen time”
Because yes: whatever the discourse showed was that children and adolescents consider Pandemie as a “stolen time” with which they combine many disappointed expectations. “You missed a lot of what could not be made up, such as birthday parties, family celebrations, exams, sports weeks, foreplay, football matches and last events that could not take place,” Zartler reports.

“They miss many beautiful memories,” said the sociologist. “You have lived your life according to the motto, except for withdrawal and getting used to thinking about the possibility to fail.” For example, the young people remember how they approached special moments: “I will celebrate my birthday in three weeks – if not lockdown”.

The “Brok” from Pandemie
For many students, during Corona, “everything is really blurry in one way or another. The entire pandemic is somehow a lump”. “Some also combine a feeling of great boredom with pandemic and regret that they would have wasted time,” says Zartler.

So a student says: “I think I shouldn’t have been in bed that much. I should have made more effort to look for myself more.” And a girl thinks afterwards: “Maybe you should have trained more.”

The treasure of Pandemie
But this also implies the opposite: “The experiences during Pandemie have also contributed to the fact that young people learned to appreciate life before Pandemie,” says the researcher. And many of the young people emphasize: “I was not even aware of how nice it used to be.”

Zartler: “You have experienced fear and uncertainty, lived in a permanent temporarily with a constantly changing framework.

And the teenagers also found out how important family and friends are: “It is so important that you have someone to talk,” says Sophia. “Yes,” says Maja, “and that it is not always the parents. I have a friend who can say everything. And I can really retire and talk to her about everything.”

Understanding by Pandemie
They also experienced problematic developments “in itself or in their immediate social environment”. And so the understanding of mental disorders has grown. “Suddenly everyone knew what depression was,” the teenagers say, “And suddenly everyone had these symptoms somehow and could understand that. That is bad.”

Understanding pandemic
This also had an impact on personal development: “Many young people also wonder today:” Who would I be if the Pandemie did not exist? How would I have developed? “” At the same time, they also see that Pandemie is an important part of their biography, “says Zartler.” It is also part of it, “say the teenagers,” because if I witnessed it, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. “

The processing according to the pandemic
Projects such as this to reflect Pandemie and then to deal with it, even for better processing of the whole, are generally still rare, regret experts from a wide range of areas. In any case, young people would also be better considered from the start of the future times of crisis with low threshold and free auxiliary offers, accessible sports offers and educational opportunities for everyone.