By Gene Beresin, Executive Director and Khadijah Booth Watkins, Associate Director

Posted in: Multimedia, Podcast

Topics: Anxiety, Hot Topics, Stress

Why does back to school feel so different this year?

In this episode of Shrinking it Down: Mental Health Made Simple, Gene and Khadijah take on five worries shaping the 2026 school year: classmates missing amid immigration enforcement, the Meta–Instagram settlement and proposed limits on kids’ social media use, economic stress and uncertainty about life after high school, measles outbreaks and vaccine misinformation, and climate anxiety. They share how parents can start honest, age-appropriate conversations — asking what kids are noticing, listening without judgment, and being genuine about what they can and can’t promise — and why family stories can help build resilience.

Practical guidance for any parent, caregiver, or educator helping kids carry worries they can’t always put into words.

Tune in now!

Media List

• How to Help Kids Cope With Situational Anxiety (MGH Clay Center)
• Common Sense Media
• Measles: Choosing Not to Vaccinate (MGH Clay Center)
• Measles Vaccination (CDC)
• Anxiety to Agency: Empowering Kids to Address Climate Change (MGH Clay Center)
• Storm Anxiety: 11 Tips to Help Your Child Cope (MGH Clay Center)
• Climate Anxiety and Kids, featuring Elizabeth Pinsky, MD (Shrinking It Down)
• What to Look for, When to Worry, What to Do (MGH Clay Center)

 

Episode music by Gene Beresin
Episode produced by Masha Mesyef

Back to School 2026 — Episode Transcript

Shrinking It Down: Mental Health Made Simple

SPEAKERS: Gene Beresin, MD, MA; Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH

[01:00:29:03 – 01:00:32:18]

Gene Beresin

Welcome back to “Shrinking It Down, Mental Health Made Simple.” I’m Gene Beresin.

[01:00:32:18 – 01:00:34:02]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

And I’m Khadijah Booth Watkins.

[01:00:34:02 – 01:02:40:10]

Gene Beresin

We’re two child and adolescent psychiatrists at the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Here we are again in September, back to school, and every back-to-school season brings anxiety for both young people and for parents. So for kids of all ages, there are the usual suspects, like separation anxiety, new teacher concerns, concerns about new friends, especially if you’re going to a new school, and how you’re going to fit in your daily schedules for hobbies, sports, time with friends, and more. And for parents, issues like sleep schedules, drop-off and pick-up planning, homework, household routines, and concerns about negative influences, such as misuse of digital media, sleepovers, among others. So there are kids’ concerns and their parents’ concerns, and those are still coming up as they do every year. But this year, you know, it’s kind of like Passover: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” 2026 appears different than previous years. Those perennial concerns, I think, are still coming up, but classrooms seem a little different than they used to, and kids are picking up on things that they can’t quite put into words. There are five topics that we at the Clay Center identified, among others, that seem to be different about this year. Those include immigration and displacement; the Meta–Instagram settlement and the effects of new potential regulations on social media; the economic downturn and the trajectory for students beyond high school; and vaccinations and outbreaks. And finally, I think kids are more concerned about issues like climate change. These affect them going back to school. For some, these are very disturbing issues, and for others, not so much. But, you know, what do you think, Khadijah?

[01:02:40:10 – 01:03:54:12]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Some of the things I’m hearing that are not as common are a lot of the immigration concerns in school. But there are so many other things, too. Kids are worried about their parents while they’re away at school, or worried about themselves, and whether things are going to happen that they can’t control — whether their parents may not be there at all, or whether someone could come to my school and take me away. So those are really new concerns. No matter what side you are on, it’s a really, really all-consuming thing that kids are faced with all the time, whether it’s what they might hear on TV or the radio or see in some of these pop-up ads. So there’s so much here, and that makes this year different. But today, we want to sit with these five topics specifically, the familiar ones and some of the harder ones, and talk through what’s actually going on with our kids this year, how parents can support their young people, and what parents can do. Because that’s usually the question they have: What can I do about this? How can I support my young person? Though, again, this is not an exhaustive list. We’ll talk about how this is different for many families, especially when it comes to worries that go beyond the usual first-day-of-school jitters.

[01:03:54:12 – 01:04:00:05]

Gene Beresin

And so what are the main perennial ones that you’ve been hearing from your families?

[01:04:00:05 – 01:04:43:00]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Like you mentioned, the separation. How am I going to be successful this year, especially kids who are in their junior and senior years of high school? How am I going to get it all done? I want to play a sport. I want to play an instrument. I want to be in all these different clubs and groups. How am I going to manage all of it and still have time for my friends and make good grades? Some smaller things, like, what if I get lost in school? What if I can’t find my way to my locker? Who’s going to be in my classroom? So a lot of the regular routine things. Before school started, I heard, how do we get back to our sleep schedule and our routines? And am I going to like my teacher? Is my new teacher going to like me? So these are some of the common things that I hear as it relates to going back to school.

[01:04:43:00 – 01:06:25:14]

Gene Beresin

I think you’re absolutely right. I have a couple of teachers, for example, in my practice, and they’ve noticed that their classrooms have been reduced by 25 to 40 percent. And the kids are noticing. Again, it depends on the age of the kid and their developmental understanding of what’s going on. But kids come into school and they notice that there are fewer kids in the classroom. They also notice that their friends of color are missing. So where’d they go, and why aren’t they showing up? And sometimes teenagers, for example, have been hearing on the news that some families are not venturing out because the parents are worried that if they drop off or pick up their kids at school, they’re going to be detained and potentially deported. There’s one woman I know in my neck of the woods who’s got three kids, who went to a local district court for a speeding ticket and was picked up. She’s got three kids at home. One of them has autism. And she was taken to Burlington, Massachusetts. And what’s going to happen? Some of the kids have heard about things like that. So if their friends are missing from school, they wonder, is this going to happen to me? Kids are worried not just about their friends of color, who may be documented or undocumented immigrants, or who may just be people of color who are being targeted, but: Is this going to happen to me and my parents? Am I going to be separated? I don’t know. Have you heard these kinds of stories in your practice?

[01:06:25:14 – 01:07:07:01]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Yeah, I’ve definitely heard these stories, these worries, and these concerns. And we’re definitely having to address these questions in a way that we haven’t before. These are not questions that I can recall ever having to help parents and kids think through. And so I guess, what do you think, Gene, in terms of how to help parents navigate these conversations? Because they’re conversations we should be having in preparation as kids go to school and maybe notice the difference in their classroom dynamics, in terms of the numbers or which kids are missing, but also maybe even some pre-conversations that these things are happening. So how do you recommend that parents navigate these conversations and support their kids?

[01:07:12:02 – 01:08:50:10]

Gene Beresin

Well, one parent said to me, “How do I talk to my kids about this?” And of course, I had to say, “Well, kids of what age?” Because you want to address school-age kids differently than adolescents. School-age kids just know that somebody is missing, and they’re more worried about the three things that we typically say come up in crisis situations for kids of all ages: Am I safe? Are you, the people taking care of me, safe? And how is this going to affect my life? So that’s common. But for kids — and this probably goes for most of the topics that we’re going to be talking about today — first, ask in general: What are you worried about? What are you noticing in the classroom? What do you think is going on? Because you can’t address their anxieties or their concerns unless you know what they’re thinking. And then listen. Just step back and listen in a nonjudgmental, honest way, and answer their questions. But keep these conversations going, because this is just the beginning. I think this year we’ve seen more of this than in any year before that I can remember. The conversations need to be ongoing, honest, continuous. And I think we need to reassure them that they’re going to be safe. Now, that’s not so simple for people of color. You’re a woman of color, Khadijah. What would you say to people you know who are of color, and how do they reassure those kids that they’re going to be safe?

[01:08:50:10 – 01:10:16:01]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Yeah, I think reassurance of safety is tricky when you really can’t reassure someone that they’re going to be safe. But I think it comes down to talking about the things they’re worried about, addressing their worries and concerns, and then outlining the things you’re doing to try your best to ensure that they’re safe, whether it’s at home, at school, or in the community. So having those conversations and making sure that kids know. Whether this is an issue of just being aware and alert, or making sure that — you know, my son just turned 18, but I’ve always said, “Make sure you always carry your ID. You’re a young Black boy. You can’t walk around here without ID on you.” Little things like that. I wish I didn’t have to have those conversations, but I have them because that’s how he can keep himself safe. And so I think it’s really about being transparent about these things and being honest about where the limits are of what we can do as parents, but also what we are striving to do — whether we’re writing to our local politicians or working with community outreach organizations. What else are we doing to try to make things better? I think that is the route that can be most helpful, because kids see through it. If you tell a kid, “You’re going to be safe, we’re keeping you safe, everything is going to be all right,” I think that falls flat, and they walk away saying, “You don’t really get me. You don’t really see me. You don’t really understand.” So I think it is really important for us to be genuine about it.

[01:10:16:01 – 01:10:40:07]

Gene Beresin

Kids are more worried about their parents than themselves. There are not that many situations that I’ve seen in the news, for example, of kids being picked up. Now, an 18-year-old is maybe different, because they look like a young adult. But school-age kids are, in my experience, more worried about their parents being picked up and taken away — about losing their parents — than they are about themselves.

[01:10:40:07 – 01:11:12:17]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

It goes back to what you said: they’re worried about, are they going to be safe, and are the people taking care of them going to be safe? So I think there is a real worry because, like you said, the targets are usually the adults. So it’s a big deal. Even though kids sometimes come across as if they don’t want to be bothered with their parents or don’t want their parents involved in their lives, they really do have a connection with their parents. They really do appreciate that their parents take care of them and provide them food and shelter and support. So the idea that that could potentially be gone with no notice is really scary.

[01:11:12:17 – 01:11:21:20]

Gene Beresin

Yeah. So now let’s turn to social media and the Meta–Instagram settlement. What are your thoughts about that?

[01:11:21:20 – 01:12:40:04]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

I have a lot of different thoughts. I think it is a worthy approach, I guess. But I also wonder how we will put this horse back in the barn when it has been set free for so long. Kids have access to phones and social media, and I think it’s going to be really hard to curtail it. But the idea that we’re going to take away someone’s ability to call home, or a parent’s ability to reach out to them, I think is also pretty scary on a different level. People use phones and devices to coordinate pickups and drop-offs and to make sure they’re checking in when their kids are away from home. Some parents don’t have the luxury of being the drop-off and pickup person, so they depend on being able to communicate with their kids through devices. Also, a device might be the only option a child has to get online, to do homework, to communicate with friends and family. Maybe they don’t have computers or things like that in their home. So I think there are a lot, a lot, a lot of other things that we need to be considering and thinking about: how this is going to impact kids, and how we’re going to compensate for those potential losses if people are able to truly enforce removing phones from kids under 12 or 13, which, again, I think is going to be a tall order. I don’t know.

[01:12:40:04 – 01:14:44:14]

Gene Beresin

Well, I think, first of all, the jury’s out right now, because we don’t know exactly what the fallout is going to be. We do know that the $17 billion settlement from Meta, which is just a drop in the bucket for these companies, is hopefully going to stop all the lawsuits that were pending against them. And, in fact, I think what is dangerous — and it’s clear to me from having read a lot about this — is that many of the online social media platforms have been targeting certain kids, have been using colorization and comparisons, and wanting to keep the kids engaged. And that’s been totally unregulated and, in my view, very, very dangerous. On the other hand, how much is this going to spill over to appropriate use of digital media? So, for example, Meta wants YouTube and Google and TikTok. Now, TikTok is another social media platform, but I’m concerned because some kids use YouTube and Google for academic work, for group projects, for looking things up in a responsible way. And the question I’ve heard from a number of teenagers is, “I use digital media for my academic work, for my schoolwork, for getting in touch with friends. What if there’s another lockdown?” During the COVID lockdown, if it weren’t for digital media and social media, kids would have been even more devastated than they were for two and a half years. So we just don’t know what the implications are. But I think we all need to be involved and think through this together — parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, members of the industry — and use organizations like Common Sense Media and other reputable organizations to actually think through what makes sense, what’s dangerous, and what needs regulation.

[01:14:44:14 – 01:15:44:01]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Yeah, the idea of limiting social media use to two hours a day and blocking messages after hours is just really concerning, because all digital use is not created equal, and people use it for different things. People have different needs. So people who are in a single-parent household, or even a two-parent household where the parents are working nights — the idea that a parent may not be able to connect or communicate with their child because direct messages have been blocked. Or, to your point, if someone has to do schoolwork and they only have a device, not a computer, how can we limit it with such a broad stroke? So I think there’s going to be a need for a lot of thoughtful consideration to make sure that people aren’t being harmed by this. I think it’s a great conversation starter, but the application of it is just not well thought through.

[01:15:44:01 – 01:17:13:22]

Gene Beresin

So it seems to me that we do need regulations that control some of the technology industries. That goes for social media, but AI is another huge area that needs regulation. But at the same time, I think all of us — parents, kids, teachers, spiritual leaders, legislators — need to be more media literate. We need to understand what people mean when they use the word “addiction” as it applies to this media. I’m not a huge fan of that, because I think there’s a big difference between addiction to substances and addiction to this stuff. That’s another whole issue. But we do have to give thoughtful consideration to all of us being more media literate, and to responsible ways we can guide folks. And for us, as clinicians, it’s super important, I think, that we take a media history and try to understand, as we’re caring for kids and families, what devices are being used and what apps are being used. It’s not a part of our routine social history. I’ve been kind of screaming and yelling about this for years, but it should be part of every routine pediatric and child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology intake. We need to know what’s happening.

[01:17:13:22 – 01:17:32:24]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

What devices do you use? What platforms do you use? How much time do you think you spend online? How much of it is pleasurable? How much of it is work or research related? I think that’s really helpful, because only then can we provide feedback and education to help them if they need to adjust their habits.

[01:17:32:24 – 01:18:14:09]

Gene Beresin

And then the other big question, but this gets into politics, is: what state and national organizations are going to be responsible for having this discussion organized, codified, and put into white papers and policy statements? Because it’s one thing to have conversations, and it’s one thing to be more media literate, but it’s another thing to have an agency, or multiple agencies, actually working together to make sure that we’re handling this in an appropriate way. But let’s turn to the economy. That’s another concern. So what’s going on with that?

[01:18:14:09 – 01:19:37:13]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

So this is a good segue, because we are at a point where our economy is in flux. It’s still really trying to recover from the pandemic. The job outlook continues to be not great. And everyone’s concerned. Parents are concerned; kids are concerned. Families are not doing well financially and are struggling to stay afloat, and this is having an impact on their mental health and their well-being. So how do we talk about this, and how do we support our young people who may be struggling economically, when this struggle is impacting their mental health? I think about kids who have graduated high school and are worried about being able to get a job, and kids who have graduated college struggling to find placement. They have spent thousands and thousands of dollars to get this degree, only to find that the job market is so challenging right now that they can’t find a job. And how that makes them feel about themselves — just demoralized and defeated — especially when we know how hard a lot of these kids work, with sports and clubs and getting 4.0s, and how they stretch themselves to the limit, only to get to the school that they want, graduate with the degree that they had dreamed about, and then not be able to find a job.

[01:19:37:13 – 01:20:46:03]

Gene Beresin

And what I’ve heard, mostly from teenagers and young adults, is that they’re worried about their parents. They’re worried that AI is going to displace them from jobs. They’re worried about health care, because after the midterm elections, 20 million or more people are going to be losing their health care, and premiums are going to be skyrocketing. People have to decide whether they’re going to pay for gas or put food on the table. I’m hearing, in some ways, more worries about their parents and grandparents: groceries, child care, inflation. How can we reassure them that their parents and relatives and grandparents are going to be okay at a time when life is truly unaffordable for most, except the very, very top, most wealthy individuals in this nation? What do you think? What do you tell them? How do you have that conversation with young people?

[01:20:46:03 – 01:22:28:07]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

It goes back to making sure that we’re having this conversation in a developmentally appropriate way based on their age. I imagine this conversation is probably happening more with middle school and high school age young people. And so you really have to start from a place of honesty. We can’t hide and not be honest about the facts, but we don’t have to overshare. So we want to follow their lead in terms of questions they might be asking, and hear from them what they might be worried about, so that we can specifically answer their concerns. And we want to make sure that we’re creating a safe place where we’re not being dismissive or overly harsh or judgmental. We want to make sure that we’re acknowledging and validating how they’re feeling, whether it’s worry, or sadness about some adjustments they’ve had to make or things they’ve had to lose. But I think it goes back to reassuring them that we are aware of what’s going on, we have a plan to tackle these things, and we are going to take care of them. I think those are things families are usually able to say without any kind of hesitation. And also, the fact that there is a space where you are loved and cared for, where you can share openly and honestly about what you’re feeling, I think creates the opportunities to have these conversations. Because kids aren’t always so forthcoming, and they’re not always so clear about what they’re worried about. But when we create this space, and when we as adults initiate these conversations, it provides opportunities to let them know that we are open to having these conversations. We want to have these conversations. And again, this is a safe space to have these conversations.

[01:22:28:07 – 01:23:20:10]

Gene Beresin

And I might add to that: if, let’s say, an older teenager or young adult expresses concern and says to the parent, “Are you worried? Are you anxious about this?” — you’ve got to be honest. Many adults, parents, and caregivers are worried. And then there’s the discussion I’ve had with a number of my patients, the older teenagers and young adults, saying, “Well, can I chip in? How can I contribute? What can I do?” Which is a big sacrifice on their part. They’ve got a lot of stuff to do. If they’re in college or in the workplace, or they’re older teenagers at home, they’re already overscheduled; they’re already overbooked. Many of them want to contribute in one way or another.

[01:23:20:10 – 01:23:41:22]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

And it’s great when kids come to you and ask questions or inquire about how they can be helpful. But what about those kids who really just don’t share or don’t express their worries or concerns, even if you’ve asked as a parent? How is a parent to know what their child is carrying emotionally if they’re not sharing or not able to share?

[01:23:41:22 – 01:24:41:01]

Gene Beresin

I think one point that’s important is that parents and caregivers are the best experts on their kids. If you see symptoms affecting their sleep, their appetite, their motivation, their interests — a change in their behavior that suggests something’s bothering them — and they’re not opening up to you, then you’ve got to find some way of seeing who they can open up to. That might be an older sibling, a relative, a grandparent, a teacher, or a coach. And get some advice. Talk to some other parents who are having similar issues at home, and gently keep at it. They may feel more comfortable talking with somebody else than talking with you as a parent, and that’s okay, as long as they’re talking. So, okay, this feels like, you know, speed dating. But…

[01:24:43:06 – 01:24:45:17]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

Minus the nice dinner.

[01:24:45:17 – 01:25:34:04]

Gene Beresin

Right. But the other thing I’ve heard from many kids, mostly school-age kids, is that they’ve heard about the dangers of illness. We can’t shelter them from listening to the news or overhearing conversations about the measles outbreak. We used to control measles, and now there are deaths. Some kids have been afflicted and died from measles, and the elderly, too. And they’re worried that they may get sick, or others may get sick, that vaccines are dangerous, that vaccines are causing autism and other serious problems. How do we address those concerns about their health and vaccines?

[01:25:34:04 – 01:27:17:21]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

I mean, the formula is the same. We have to create a space that’s safe, open, and inviting. We have to hear what their concerns are. So we want to try to be open and let them lead the conversations, with open-ended questions like: What have you heard about? What kinds of things are you worried about? What do you know about measles or the vaccines? Because only when you have an idea of what they’re worried about can you really directly address their concerns. And sometimes you can’t always definitively say you will be safe or you won’t be safe, or you may not have all of the answers. And I think as parents and adults, we have to be okay with that and comfortable saying, “I’m not sure, and this is what I plan to do to find out,” or “Let’s look into this together,” or “Let’s call your pediatrician together.” And that’s okay. I think we, as the adults, have to not feel burdened to have all the answers, and know that we also don’t have to worry alone, like we tell our kids. And then talk about the things we’re doing as the adults in the room to keep them safe. Even if we can’t guarantee 100% safety: these are the things that I’m going to do for you as my child, or these are the things the school is going to do to keep you safe in school and in the community. And maybe some kids will want to know, “What if there’s an outbreak like there was in other cities? What will happen then?” Have that conversation about what the safety plan will be and how you’ll manage it. But the worst thing you could do is not answer their questions and leave them to their own devices, because they will undoubtedly create a much scarier story than there probably needs to be. So it’s really important that we try to answer their questions and give them the space to talk about it as much as they want.

[01:27:17:21 – 01:29:12:09]

Gene Beresin

Yeah. And you know, my grandchildren are all vaccinated. They’re protected, but there are probably kids in their classroom who are not vaccinated. Now, I don’t know how much they know about that. But what worries me are some of the parents. I’ll be blunt: I think vaccinations have proven to be incredibly safe and lifesaving. They’ve changed life on Earth. We’ve eradicated smallpox. We had previously eliminated measles from this country. It’s a deadly illness. Chickenpox, particularly if you’re an adult, can be ruthless. So what worries me are some of the adults who have bought into the misinformation about the dangers of vaccines. Now, look, everything has risks and benefits. Some people react negatively to vaccines. My arm hurt like hell when I got my tetanus booster — for days, right? I couldn’t use it. But still, it’s an important thing. We do have a blog on the Clay Center site about vaccines and measles. But I think what we need to do as professionals is encourage people to get the best evidence from the best sources, so they can have a full understanding of what the risks are to their family. We have to honor and respect religious differences that prohibit people from having blood transfusions or vaccines or whatever. That’s fine. But they need to know the risks. And I think the problem I find in this discussion is that there’s so much misinformation out there that it’s very difficult to sort evidence-based, honest answers — pros and cons — from biased statements that really get people scared.

[01:29:12:09 – 01:29:52:07]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

And these are really conversations you should be having with your personal doctor, who knows your history and maybe understands where you are coming from culturally and religiously. They can make a very pointed, tailored recommendation to you, which may be different from their recommendation for someone who doesn’t have certain co-occurring illnesses or doesn’t come from certain backgrounds. So I think it’s also important to know that even as you’re reading online and picking up pros and cons, you should really be having these conversations with your provider, who has known your child for however many years and knows their history. I think that’s such an important point, and we can’t overlook it.

[01:29:52:07 – 01:31:00:19]

Gene Beresin

So let’s turn to the last of our topics, and that is climate change. Again, kids are seeing things; we can’t shield them from images on screens. I’m looking around my office right now, and I have a smartphone, I have an iPad, I have a computer with a big screen, and I’ve got a TV in the other room — one. and many households have multiple TVs. So kids have seen the wildfires in the Northwest. Many have seen, and remember, the hurricanes and the flooding in Texas and in other parts of our nation and around the world. And they’re concerned about going back to school and being away from home base. Not that home base is necessarily going to protect you, but at least in the child’s mind: if I’m away at school, something terrible could happen with the climate that would negatively affect me and my family. So how do we address that issue?

[01:31:00:19 – 01:32:04:14]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

I mean, I think it’s similar. We have to have these conversations and hear their concerns. Sometimes it can be really difficult because, just like with vaccines, there are so many competing conversations going on, some saying there’s no such thing. So how do we have these conversations and help our kids understand the facts of how the world is changing — how temperatures are changing and affecting the fires and the floods? Now, how do we reassure them about this? That’s a really hard question, because it’s actively happening. The things we can do on an individual level, we can talk about things like recycling and conserving energy, and on a bigger level, things like advocating for certain causes. But it is hard to talk about this in the context of what we can do to keep them safe, or to make it not happen, because it is happening. So I think that makes this conversation much harder than some of the other conversations. What are your thoughts on that?

[01:32:04:14 – 01:33:53:18]

Gene Beresin

Well, I think you’re right. There are two issues here. One is, what can we do to encourage them to join in local efforts that we can all work on together on to help prevent climate change — recycling, conserving energy, trying to avoid fossil fuels, planting trees, whatever it is? There are local efforts we can all join in on so we feel that we’re part of protecting the planet for the future. Planting trees. The other issue is, what do we do to help them feel safe, because they’re worried that something terrible is going to happen? I think that often the helpful thing is to use family narratives. We’ve been through hurricanes. Many people have been through the fires in California. Kids love narratives; they love family stories. Storytelling has been ubiquitous in all societies. It’s a core part of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran — every spiritual work is built on narratives. And we do have family narratives: when the tree fell on the house, when we had that hurricane, when we had that humongous snowstorm. Kids will remember that, and if they don’t remember it, they’ll want to hear more and more and more about it: What happened, and how did you fare? Those kinds of stories can provide help, understanding, and resilience, and let kids know that we’ve been through hard times, we can get through hard times again, and there are ways of taking care of things. So I would encourage storytelling. And oftentimes it’s folks like me — the grandparents — who are the keepers of history and narratives. So we’ve covered quite a lot, and we haven’t even covered the things that you mentioned at the beginning.

[01:33:58:14 – 01:34:00:20]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

There are so many more.

[01:34:00:20 – 01:34:47:20]

Gene Beresin

Oh my God, yes. So, if folks listening are interested in our addressing current events and current concerns, let us know what your families are worried about. Let us know what you’re thinking about and what conversations you’re having, and we can provide new podcasts and other blogs and perhaps videos to address these issues and help you out a bit. And as usual, let’s close with some personal stories. So, Khadijah, we’ve seen this stuff in our practices. Have you addressed any of these issues, or other issues like these, in your personal life with your family?

[01:34:47:20 – 01:35:51:13]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

We haven’t had to address many of these issues specifically. But going back to my son, who had his last first day of high school this week, we’ve talked about the fact that even though he’s just 18, he’s still a man of color, and how it’s important for him to think about that as he’s out here navigating the world. So things like making sure that he keeps his ID on him — he can no longer be forgetful about those things — and things that he can do to keep himself safe in terms of the company he keeps. We’ve also talked again about group chats, and how if things are happening in the group chat that you don’t necessarily agree with and you don’t say anything or remove yourself, you are part of the group that’s doing whatever it is you don’t agree with. So just reminding him how to navigate this world in a way that keeps him safe — those are some of the things we’ve done as he’s prepared to go back to school and back into the social environment. How about you?

[01:35:51:13 – 01:37:51:24]

Gene Beresin

Oh, well, let’s see. This past weekend — I’m a gardener, and I’ve got lots and lots and lots of perennials and shrubs — two of my grandchildren were over. We were lighting a fire to burn away this mold that attacks various different trees, and the only way you can get rid of that mold is by burning the sticks. So we had a little fire in the fire pit, and then they wanted to collect flowers for bouquets. So we walked around my garden and cut little flowers, and then we talked about — they know what “indigenous” means. They’re young, but they understand; they’re four and ten. So they knew what indigenous is, and they asked, “Hey, Kapa” — that’s what they call me — “are these plants native?” Their mom’s a landscaper, so they got it. And I showed them a whole bunch of plants that were covered with bumblebees and honeybees, and I talked with them about pollination and about helping the environment and keeping things organic. We cut a couple of bouquets. Kids love projects — kids of that age, young children. So one of the things that was really fun for me was to take them out in the garden and talk about the earth, about gardens and pollination, and about the butterflies and other critters that we’re trying to preserve. So anyway, for those of you at home, if you like what you’ve heard today, please let us know and send us a review. And as always, we hope that our conversation will help you have yours. I’m Gene Beresin.

[01:37:51:24 – 01:37:54:07]

Khadijah Booth Watkins

And I’m Khadijah Booth Watkins. Until next time.