The head of the district's educational counseling speaks in an interview about boredom, vandalism and the consequences of the pandemic.
District - Throw chairs in Lake Starnberg, leave bottles, riot in the old Feldafing clinic: cases of vandalism among young people are increasing.
Are these the effects of the restrictions imposed by the corona pandemic?
Starnberg Mercury spoke to Christine Geissler about the possible consequences of Corona for children and adolescents.
She is the head of the department for youth work, educational counseling and sport in the Starnberg district office.
Ms. Geissler, are the frequent cases of vandalism due to Corona?
First of all, I would like to start by saying that this behavior is intolerable.
These are crimes that should and will be punished because they harm society.
But: From the point of view of youth welfare, the deeds are understandable to a certain extent.
What do you mean?
For almost a year now, we've all been living with restrictions, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the lockdown intensity.
This is difficult for us adults who have a strong personality.
Even adults have mood swings as a result.
This is all the more difficult for children and young people whose personality has not yet matured.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
The children and adolescents have been sitting at home for a long time, with their parents or alone when their parents go to work.
The young people lack the peer group, the free time and the freedom with their peers in class or in the sports club, where they can live out their energy.
If the energy cannot be lived out in sports or at school, does it find its way into vandalism?
In the worst case, yes.
Often it is about children from parental homes who are simply overwhelmed with the situation.
Some parents are simply not in a position to support their children well in distance learning at home, for example because they do not have an adequate schooling, cannot structure themselves well or because they are simply fighting for their income situation, which is endangered by the pandemic is.
These parents are stressed and overwhelmed, which in turn also stresses the children.
That is certainly an explanation for the vandalism, but it does not make it tolerable.
What could you do?
Not much with the current corona restrictions.
The sports clubs should be allowed to reopen, there has been no sports offer for months.
We also need open youth centers.
There are low-threshold, i.e. easily accessible offers for young people.
There are professionals there who could intervene if they notice that something is not going well with the young people.
Many teenagers meet multiple people despite the restrictions.
Yes.
With this they are officially doing something illegal.
As probably some parents do when they meet several people.
And that too is stressful and exhausting.
Only that parents with their established personalities can classify their actions, an adolescent lacks an understanding of normality and deviation.
The uncertainty of how things should continue and which we are all experiencing affects young people even more.
We experts ask ourselves how this will affect the generation in general.
What do you expect?
We expect developmental impairments, disorders of psychological development.
The vandalism is a symptom.
As a result of the corona pandemic, young people have to learn to deal with a lack of irritation.
There's no café, no zoo, no swimming pool - that's a challenge.
So it's also about boredom?
Yes.
And a lack of freedom.
The young people are at home all the time and therefore under observation all the time.
A young person needs exactly the opposite: He should move away from the influence of adults and make his own experiences.
Young people look for rooms where they can try things out.
Unfortunately, this can also end in vandalism.
That is the result of the current lack of alternatives.
How can you teach young people that vandalism is not an alternative?
Basically, it would make sense if they clean up the damage again.
In the case of the chairs in the lake, they probably did that too.
And the children and young people need people to talk to and to whom they can confide in their insecure feelings about this strange time.
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Christine Geissler, Head of Department for Youth Work, Educational Advice and Sport in the Starnberg District Office.
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You mentioned a lack of freedom, excess energy and general uncertainty as the consequences of Corona among young people. What else can there be?
Many are without drive.
They do not get rid of their energy, the rules are constantly changing.
For a year now, the requirements about what you are allowed to do and how many people you can meet have been changing all the time.
That paralyzes the adolescents at some point.
The parents are just as perplexed.
What advice do you give them?
Talking to their children.
And if that doesn't work, or if you are too worried or overwhelmed, it doesn't hurt to ask for professional help from family counseling centers, psychologists, educators, teachers or the social workers at the schools.
But the most important thing is to stay calm and understanding, it's not a normal life at the moment, not for all of us.
Before that, young people or parents would have to first notice that something is going wrong. That mostly happens subliminally.
Yes that's true.
Children and adolescents do not act like adults who notice when they are not doing well.
Many of our family systems are currently under stress.
Parents are often plagued by existential worries as well, which is an enormous burden.
This, too, can ultimately lead to vandalism among young people: They feel the tension, and it then paves its way into destruction.
It can also happen that young people sit for hours in front of the computer, become addicted to games or take up drugs.
That means that for the moment all problems stay at home, but at some point will they reach the youth welfare organizations?
That is to be assumed.
At the moment, many children and young people who need help are falling through the cracks.
There is also no social control at school or in kindergarten.
That will affect us later in normal operation.
As a parent, how do I know that my child is not doing well?
Children and adolescents either withdraw and fall silent, or they become aggressive.
Adolescents usually do not realize for themselves that they are not doing well.
You need an impetus from outside, from a person you trust, from teachers or educators or even the clique.
They learn what is right and wrong when they are in the group.
Unfortunately that is missing at the moment.