Why Teens Should Practice Self-Care At Home

The practice of self-care at home for teens is crucial both during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. By learning how to practice self-care at home, teens can help create a positive outlook on their lives. After all, self-care activities are essential benefits of good mental health. As we all know, after experiencing this historical challenge, maintaining mental health and keeping positive is a significant step forward for all members of the family.

When it comes to learning about self-care tips and how to practice self-care at home, teenagers may need a little guidance. If your teenager seems overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are not alone. For many people, a frightened and anxious response to such a crisis is perfectly normal. Thus, it falls on the parents to lead teenagers out of the darkness and into the light.

How Parents Can Help Teens Practice Self-Care At Home

Even beyond quarantine, teenagers will experience a profound change in their lives during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on interactions with other people outside the family will continue. Indeed, everything that is happening can feel suffocating for a teenager.

Thus, effective ways to relieve stress and foster a positive mental outlook are key. Many of these approaches were provided by the Victoria State Government of Australia.

Parents can help teenagers practice self-care at home by:

• Finding out essential information about the COVID-19 pandemic from reliable sources. Focus on reliable information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local government resources. When it comes to news sources, stick with respectable outlets. Avoid information that seems inflammatory.
• Talk to teenagers about what you know and make sure they avoid questionable sources on the Internet like unreliable chat forums and rumors on social media. Reduce anxiety by sticking to what is real.
• Maintain a regular daily routine as a family as much as possible. Make sure every teen has a daily schedule of chores and homework.
• Remember how you and your ancestors coped with difficult situations in the past and share those experiences with teenagers. Let them know that the family can get through tough times if you stick together.
• Keep in touch with family members and friends via telephone, Zoom, Skype, and other online tools. Texting and emails work, as well.
• Exercise regularly with the family because exercise is a proven treatment for stress and depression. Dance to videos, take family walks wearing masks, and do aerobics or calisthenics. Resources for exercise are free on YouTube.
• Encourage your teen to leave the house every once in a while, making sure they are taking necessary precautions, and remind them of the many proven benefits of getting outside.

By keeping lines of conversation open, fielding questions, and planning interactions, parents can help teenagers adjust to the challenges of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Self-Care at Home for Teenagers During COVID-19

Teenagers face the same challenges at their parents, both under quarantine and in everyday life. The key to self-care at home for teenagers is letting them know what to do. Teens may be less aware of what works when it comes to practical self-care activities that lead to good mental health. Thus, parents need to take charge during this crisis and set the boundaries of how time is being spent. Teens need to be able to escape into television binges and gaming sprees once in a while, but it shouldn’t be an everyday occurrence. These maladaptive self-care habits can be psychologically damaging.

Therefore, how do parents regulate how their kids spend their time without seeming too authoritative? It’s a hard question to answer if you are going to be telling your teenager exactly what they have to do. Instead, you can give your teen multiple healthy activities to choose from.

Hence, we’ve provided twenty options for how teenagers can practice self-care at home and what they can do with their time. From this list, pick the best options for your teenager and open their eyes to new possibilities.

20 Self Care at Home Options for Teenagers

Here is the list, provided in part by the Good Housekeeping Institute to help both you and your teenager:

1. Stay hydrated, making sure that every family member has their own water bottle.
2. Use “Self-Care Sunday” for the whole family. Allow each family member to focus on their own thing. Let them do whatever they want, as long as it is safe.
3. Focus on reducing clutter. Make it a family project with the belief that less clutter means more space and more freedom. Get rid of what is no longer needed.
4. Create art projects for the whole family. Contests where one new piece is put up each week. Make sure that the kids receive equal recognition and support.
5. Do you have a family pet? If not, isn’t this the perfect time to fill that void? Dogs and cats, birds and fish can be bought online, adopted from local shelters, or fostered.
6. Remember to shower. Too many teens stopped showering during the quarantine. Bring them back together. Not every day, but, at least, every other day.
7. Buy a private journal for teenagers and tell them that no one will see it but them. If they want to share, great! If they’re going to keep it private, that’s their choice.
8. Raise the shades and open the windows to let in fresh air.
9. Give your teenager a plant to look after. Let them pick what kind they want.
10. Listen to podcasts with your teenager. Google, “How to find the best podcasts.”
11. Plan a dream vacation for the future. This is a fun family activity to provide some optimism during quarantine.
12. Ask your teenager to cook with you. Be a teacher and open savory doors.
13. Help your teenager develop their own mantra. Something they can say to relieve stress and lower anxiety. If they want to do it alone, you can provide resources from YouTube.
14. Learn to play an instrument to embrace creativity. Does your teen play? Do they want to make music?
15. Institute a no-smartphone policy during meals. Promote talk by asking questions.
16. Instead of FOMO (fear of missing out), focus on JOMO (joy of missing out). Explain to teens that they might never have this time again to self-improve.
17. Have your teen write a letter to their future self about the pandemic. Detail what was scary and what was awful, what was surprising and what was kind of cool.
18. Take a virtual museum tour with the whole family. Major museums around the world now have virtual tours available online with or without recorded guides.
19. Listen to audiobooks with the whole family. Vote on what book you want, trying to make sure that you pick something fun and exciting like Robinson Crusoe.
20. Create a “Yay!” list. It is important to celebrate even the smallest successes. You can record good things that happen each day, from organizing your room to simply making a great cup of coffee.

Not every self-care at home option listed above will work for your teenager. However, we imagine that many of them will help guide parents in the right direction when it comes to supporting teenagers during these difficult times. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard for everyone.