Riding the CoronaCoaster: Holiday Edition

The holiday season is usually a time of celebration and cheer, but everything feels different this year. In the face of the pandemic, parents and their children are dealing with new challenges, and the need to reach out to talk and share experiences is essential. Clearly, this relevant topic needed to be discussed at length, and Kassia Eide joined us for another round of Riding the Coronacoaster webinars to do just that! On December 11 and December 21 the Be Strong Families community came together for open conversations on exploring these challenges, and how we can best support one another in a holiday season unlike any other.

Kassia is the Manager of Family Engagement at Fox Valley United Way and a longtime member of Be Strong Families Board of Directors. She joined us previously for Riding the Coronacoaster webinars in July and August, providing an outlet for us to share the challenges we were facing at the time.

In these December editions of the Coronacoaster series, the hour was spent responding to key questions around personal experiences in this unusual holiday season. How has it been different for your family to celebrate holidays this year? What are some of the emotions that you and your family have experienced over the past few months, especially related to the holidays? Kassia, her Be Strong Families cohosts, and webinar attendees opened up about their struggles and challenges.

After open discussions about these challenges, they then shared positive things that had happened to their families as a result of living through the pandemic, like new holiday traditions that they may continue in the future. Finally, attendees discussed how we can support one another through this time.

The conversations were fulfilling, welcoming, and very much needed, and we look forward to future Riding the Coronacoaster webinars in 2021.

Be Strong Families is off for the rest of 2020, but we'll return in 2021 with a fresh slate of webinar offerings that foster community and honest, authentic conversations and perspectives. Join us for these webinars whenever your schedule allows. If you or your colleagues would like to host a webinar with us, contact us.