One thing people might not know is that while I'm a homesteader and that's what I plan on talking about A LOT of this blog, I'm a chiropractor by day. I take pride in helping people relieve their stress, find holistic solutions to their headaches or hormone issues and learn to thrive in their health and overall lives. I'm a researcher and "digger" by nature, and love digging into the current research and articles out there. I'm sure that throughout the pages of this blog I will have quite a few "sprinklings" of remedies, lifestyle choices, and health information that hopefully will benefit you just as much as articles on where you are going to plant a garden or what kind of chickens to get.
When the schools were shut down for CoVid, we were told "the kids are resilient. They'll be ok". I'm here to tell you they most definitely are NOT! I'm seeing a large amount of kids struggling right now, and I don’t have all that many teenage patients. The surprising thing is that it's not just the middle school girls like we are used to seeing. It's high school BOYS! I talked to a student yesterday who is quitting basketball this year. He loves basketball and when I asked him about the upcoming season, he told me wasn't playing this year. You could tell he didn't want to talk about it, but that he was struggling. During football season, 4 boys on the JV team quit....on the same day, 3 because of mental health related issues.
Boys are much more closed off so unless they are used to expressing emotions, they probably aren't talking about it. They look ok on the outside-smiling, joking around, having fun, being their normal selves. You as a parent may not ever see the turmoil because they aren't SHOWING you. They are fighting an internal battle, possibly taking it out on people at school or in their peer group, who take their behavior as them “joking” around. They sense they are acting different but they can’t pinpoint exactly why.
In the spring of 2020 a survey found close to a third of students felt unhappy and depressed much more than usual. In the past year, as we have returned to “normal life", the latest research shows that many students are still living in a state of mental health crisis. 44% of students stated that during the past year they felt hopeless or perpetually sad. 44%!!!! That is a HUGE number!!
Some of the reasoning’s could include having been closed off from their peers, the stress of going virtual and having to learn a whole new way of learning that they’ve never had to do before, the inability to see smiles or receive hugs and touch from people. Smiles, hugs and touch all release oxytocin as well as serotonin and dopamine. A lack of touch and interaction decreases these "feel good" hormones and increases stress hormones such as cortisol. Add in the various stressors during the past couple of years of loss of loved ones, online schooling, loss of family income, loss of sporting events, etc and this increased the cortisol even further. Research tells us that long term, elevated cortisol in kids and teens leads to an increase in anxiety. Early childhood and teen year experiences are fundamental in shaping both the development of the stress response and the responses from an individual to stress across their life. It should come as no surprise then, that the experiences of the last year have changed the way that these young minds respond to stress or any kind.
“A study by Hankin and colleagues (2010) found in a longitudinal study from preschool through adolescence that high-risk, dysphoric children showed hyporeactivity to a stressor in preschool and 3rd grade, but hyperreactivity to a stressor in 9th grade, illustrating a developmental shift in cortisol response for at-risk youth. In addition to activation during the stressor itself, a failure to downregulate HPA activity following stress termination has been identified as a marker of internalizing problems in adults”. (Taken from “Child Anxiety Symptoms Related to Longitudinal Cortisol Trajectories and Acute Stress Responses: Evidence of Developmental Stress Sensitization”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4351756/)
I would argue that with the traumas and micro traumas that have occurred over the past 2 years, it’s not a matter of “at risk” or “dysphoric”. I would argue that right now, ALL our youth fall in the “at risk” category.
I would argue that with the traumas and micro traumas that have occurred over the past 2 years, it’s not a matter of “at risk” or “dysphoric”. I would argue that right now, ALL our youth fall in the “at risk” category.
So what does this mean when we say “hyporeactive” in younger kids and “hyperreactive” in teens? You may notice that in your younger child, they tend to shut down more in a stressful situation. They may withdraw into their computer game or TV show. They may not notice other people talking and talk over them. They may forget where they put things or look at something but still not be able to “find” it. A teen with hyperreactivity to stressors may exhibit what appear to be outbursts at seemingly nothing. They may react inappropriately to people joking with them or touching them, have a difficult time “letting things go”. They may not be able to focus in a class where there is a lot of noise or other stimulation. They may be defensive or combative to situations that normally they could tolerate. They may have avoidance issues, meaning they can’t stay in a classroom long and have to leave, or leave any situation that is causing them an uneasiness. They may avoid physical touch, despite having loved it before and may be easily angered or upset. Sound at all like things your kids are going through? YOU AREN’T ALONE! We are seeing this more and more in the students in our schools, at least in our local school where after the pandemic and all its traumas, we had another large tragedy in our district followed by a situation that left a “black eye” on our schools. Our students are feeling this and they are struggling because of it all!
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends a ratio of 1 school psychologist per 500 students; but current NASP data estimates that in larger districts the ratio is 1 per 1,211 students. I say that with all that is going on, this 1:500 is NOT enough. I’ve heard from students that it’s often difficult to get in to the therapist or guidance counselors in their schools because there are so many other students needing the support as well. When we are in a crisis situation, as I would argue that our schools are in, we must treat it like the emergency situation we are in.
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends a ratio of 1 school psychologist per 500 students; but current NASP data estimates that in larger districts the ratio is 1 per 1,211 students. I say that with all that is going on, this 1:500 is NOT enough. I’ve heard from students that it’s often difficult to get in to the therapist or guidance counselors in their schools because there are so many other students needing the support as well. When we are in a crisis situation, as I would argue that our schools are in, we must treat it like the emergency situation we are in.
So with the lack of mental health care available, what are our options for potentially helping out teenagers deal with these challenges and decreasing their cortisol levels?
Today our lonesome piglet Solo moved from her space on the front porch to her big new enclosure. We had to make room for our other lone piglet so that he can soon be moved out of house and to the second home, the front porch. I’ll share their stories this weekend but for now, enjoy some pics of my super cute, VERY hairy Mangalitsa pig, Solo. ❤️🐷 
Over the last couple of years it has been almost impossible to get chicks or ducklings as it's been an epic couple of years for people wanting to learn to grow their own food and take care of their families. ! I would stop in Tractor Supply, knowing they had just gotten a new shipment of chicks in, only to get there 15 minutes after delivery and they were already gone. It was unprecedented! And forget about trying to buy new feeders or waterers as they were sold out just about everywhere! Even with ordering my chicks online, I couldn't get them until the end of June or early July, when I usually get them delivered mid-May. While I'm amazed and excited to see so many people wanting to move towards a bit of sufficiency, one thing I'm noticing is that people don't know what types of chicks they are wanting. I saw many people in the store getting "straight run" chicks (because they were cheaper) and talking about how they couldn't wait to get fresh eggs. Now, I'm sitting back and watching as people are realizing they have a bunch of roosters and live in areas where they can't keep them and are having to get rid of them. I'm not going to lie when I say that I may have picked some up, finished raising them to the proper size and will be harvesting them for my freezer! Don't be one of those people in the spring and spend money on chickens that you aren't going to be able to keep.
What's the Difference?
What's the Difference?
It's hard to walk past the bins at Tractor Supply or other farm stores and see all the cute little fluff balls and not buy any. My husband knows by now that he can't send me in the spring or fall because I inevitably will come with more saying "But look how cute they are!" or "But I don't have this breed yet!" (I think I've got about 42 hens right now plus we've had around 50 meat chickens, 6 turkeys....they were all CUTE too!)
But what exactly is the difference between "straight run" and "pullet"? It's pretty simple-straight run are sort of an "As is". Whatever the eggs hatch is what you get so will have a mix of future hens and roosters. They typically say you will get roughly half and half but you need to know you could get 100% roosters by doing this. When buying pullets, you are getting all females (with only an occasional male by accident). This is the best way to assure that you will have eggs in a few months, but is also a little bit more costly per chick.
How do I get started buying my chicks?
But what exactly is the difference between "straight run" and "pullet"? It's pretty simple-straight run are sort of an "As is". Whatever the eggs hatch is what you get so will have a mix of future hens and roosters. They typically say you will get roughly half and half but you need to know you could get 100% roosters by doing this. When buying pullets, you are getting all females (with only an occasional male by accident). This is the best way to assure that you will have eggs in a few months, but is also a little bit more costly per chick.
How do I get started buying my chicks?
My best advice on buying chicks is to find your breed you like (I'll write about my favorite breeds in later posts) and decide if you are wanting to harvest some off possibly to put meat in the freezer. If so, go with straight run, this way, you'll end up having eggs on the counter and meat in the freezer. If you know you only want eggs, then you want to go with pullets. This year, out of all of my pullet chicks, I only had one stray rooster make his way in there.
Knowing the difference will save you time, money and possibly your kids heart breaking as they have to give up their beloved chicken because mom or dad didn't know and purchased the wrong thing! Join me at The Inexperienced Homesteader on Facebook to learn more about starting to provide food security for your family, learn from my mistakes and realize that anyone can farm!
Knowing the difference will save you time, money and possibly your kids heart breaking as they have to give up their beloved chicken because mom or dad didn't know and purchased the wrong thing! Join me at The Inexperienced Homesteader on Facebook to learn more about starting to provide food security for your family, learn from my mistakes and realize that anyone can farm!
