Welcoming Dr. Danial to MWC + *NEW* Sibling Class
Dear friends,
Lately, we have wanted to talk about something (anything?) other than the pandemic. But we feel compelled to acknowledge the elephant in the room—the burden parents are carrying this summer and the weighty decisions awaiting them this fall. While the rest of the vaccinated country may have been celebrating mask-free summer, parents with children too young to be vaccinated continue to find themselves feeling a bit forgotten (and this goes double for people with a medically-complex family member).
Even epidemiologists haven’t quite agreed on the exact right course forward. Once again, families are left on their own to figure it out. Should they send their kids to camp with or without masks? Can they have play-dates outside of the bubble? When should people mask around them?
Parenting has never been easy, but lately it can feel like you need an advanced degree in mathematics to calculate if it is safe to take your child on an outing. There’s some difficult calculus around how many people they will be exposed to, how many will be masked, how the space is ventilated, what and how it could affect a child. There are multiple unknown variables making it impossible to solve the equation.
While the rest of the world might be feeling like they are moving on, parents of younger kids feel like they are still occupying the same exhausting grey area. At first, we saw this manifesting as frustration, exhaustion, envy, disappointment, and many other emotions. It is no secret that parents have been persisting with some low-level burnout, but as case numbers creep up, the slow burn is turning to a anger.
Some people are angry at a school year that’s looking less normal than we all hoped. Angry about having to weigh their child’s emotional health versus physical health. Angry that despite a year and a half of sacrifices, their child is still in this situation. Angry at the disparate ways the pandemic has impacted their family or friends. Angry that children are feeling the impact of adult problems.
So, if you've found yourself a little shorter tempered than usual or felt your blood pressure rising while doing back to school prep, you aren't alone. Anger can be a response to pain, threat, or loss, and there’s been plenty of that to go around--certainly more than we hoped for at the start of the summer.
Anger will always find its way to the surface, and require putting it into words. When anger is redirected at the self, it can turn into depression, self-harm or self neglect. When it is denied, it can turn into mania and false happiness. When uncomfortably muted, it can morph into passive-aggressiveness and malaise. When focused onto an unsuspecting target, it can hurt and leave another surprised and injured. The feeling of anger is nothing to fear, but we need a thoughtful channel and a revelation of words and safe expression. This is the magic and the gift of therapy: words said out loud, within a safe arena and in the bounds of a productive, intended goal. This has been a long 18 months, please reach out for support if you have been going it alone - we can help!
Sometimes the perfect accompaniment to therapy is also medication. Thank you science! We're fortunate to be welcoming a new person to our building this month, and he's a familiar face for some of you. Dr. Danial, our favorite psychiatrist, will be joining Maternal Wellness Center in-house. You'll see his new office on the first floor, and we encourage you to say hello. If you want to schedule an appointment, he can be reached at 215-649-0157.
Warmly,
Kellie Wicklund, LPC, PMH-C
Owner + Clinical Director
New Sibling Class
September 26th at 3:30PM
Are you wondering how you will introduce a new baby to their sibling? This class taught by parent educator Maria Silver Pyanov and Camille Barnes will help big brother or sister get prepared for the the new baby. We will do crafts, learn what to expect from a baby, and plan for supporting sibling bonding. They will leave class with their Big Sibling Certificate and feeling loved and confident in their place in the family.
