Medway T.H.R.I.V.E. (Tools: Health, Resiliency, Inclusiveness, Vitality, Empowerment) has come up with a new way to address and promote wellness not only among parents, but among all community members.
“Up until this point, what our group was really focused on was applied through events or speakers and presentations. We’ve done films and that sort of thing,” says Ryan Sherman, Medway Schools’ Health and Wellness Director, but the T.H.R.I.V.E. committee wanted to engage those parents and others who prefer not to necessarily participate in live events.
The result? A community book read. Members of the Medway and surrounding communities are encouraged to read the first four chapters and conclusion of IGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, by Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., sometime from February 1st to March 31st. At the time of Local Town Pages’ deadline, two facilitated community in April were planned:
• April 2, 2019 at TC Scoops 6:30 start
• April 3, 2019 at Medway Public Library at 6:30
As parents and educators, we see large shifts in the rise of adolescent anxiety and depression. Screen time and rise of social media have left kids feeling anxious or isolated in a way that no other generation has been exposed to,” says Sherman, who points to the fact that Medway has seen a rise in adolescent mental health concerns over the last ten years, including a 48% increase in high school students who felt “very” stressed over the past 30 days. This rise in student stress has correlated with a steady increase in the percentage of Medway middle and high school students who spend three or more hours online during an average school day. Despite this increase in childhood mental health concerns a lack of understanding regarding the connection between screen time and adolescent mental health issues still exists as 63% of parents of Medway High School students do not have household rules around social media use.
The book discussions will be facilitated by parent volunteers.
Kirsten DeSorbo, a parent in Medway, is one of those volunteers.
“I feel so lucky to live in a community that is addressing these issues of parenting, how to connect more with your children how to really be a better parent. For me personally, I’m always striving to be good at this job of parenting - I’m constantly learning and questioning myself am I doing right by my children,” says DeSorbo, who is listening to the book on Audible right now. “I have heard of the concern that all of this technology is having an effect on the way our children operate in this world. You walk into any restaurant now and they have 20 TV’s gong. How do we work well in this framework of constantly digitized culture?”
The book chosen addresses this very topic.
IGen, says Sherman, “puts a frame around the kind of issues we’re dealing with in ways many of us haven’t thought of. When you look at generations, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials – there’s a sub-category of millennials people born from 1994 on (the author) labels ‘IGen.’
Basically, they’ve lived their whole lives with Internet access, grew up with cell phones more than any other generation. She looked at how this has affected this sub generation, how they interact socially, their mental health and how technology has affected both of those things.”
Ryan says the book is backed up with data and shows how some teen issues, such as drinking and teen pregnancy, have gone down.
“(The author) does a good job illustrating how these kinds of shifts not only relate to technology, but things that have happened in this generation, 9/11 and a shift in parenting that led them to grow up much slower and more protected. They’re staying home more, not learning to drive as early, are more likely to stay home and watch Netflix with their parents than interact socially. We have much more fears for our children than our parents did for us,” says Sherman.
Sherman says the T.H.R.I.V.E. committee hopes the community book read might encourage “informal discussions while you’re standing at the sidelines of that basketball or soccer game, or outside your child’s musical. ‘Hey, did you read this book?’ Maybe discussion could take place outside the event,” he says.
Books will be available to borrow at various locations around Medway.
“We have several businesses in Medway that have agreed to let us put up a description of the book read and have the book at their businesses,” says Sherman. The books were purchased with funding from a grant from the Medway Foundation for Education. People can borrow the book and even highlight what they find important for the next readers when they bring the book back. “Hopefully, each copy gets read three or four times,” says Sherman.
The event, he says, is not just for parents and not just for Medway residents, but for anyone interested.
Issue Date:
February, 2019
Article Body: