College offers puppies and coloring books to deal with finals stress

mrsheppo

Mom to 11 and still partially sane
Joined
Mar 21, 2003
I saw this and while I know finals can be extremely stressful, I think it is time to stop some of the coddling and learn to deal with life.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016...ring-books-for-college-finals-raise-concerns/


SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – It’s a stressful time for college students with finals looming at American River College and some are coloring outside the lines for therapy.

Puppies are lending paws to de-stress and an adult coloring book program will soon be at their finger tips.

“When you’re coloring it sends you back to a more simpler mindset, so it is really stress relieving to sit and draw and color,” said Aaron Austin, a student at ARC.

But others believe this form of what some call juvenile program it’s creating a real problem.

“I do have a concern with bringing these things on campus because I think we have a tendency to baby college students,” said Benjamin Uchytil who is also a student at ARC.

Uchytil is back in school for his masters degree and said students need to learn to cope like adults.

“The world does not come to an end because you did not get what you want,” she said.

American River College is willing to try colorful tools.

“Stress is real and some students are looking for ways to manage that stress, so we’re trying to be creative and flexible in a way that helps to manage that stress so they can succeed,” said Scott Crow, a spokesman for ARC.

Puppy time at Sac State was a big hit. Students are happy it’s coming to ARC.

“We definitely need puppies on campus, even coloring honestly,” said Kendall Long who is also a student at ARC.

A major concern though, the cost.

ARC said the coloring books and crayons will all be donated. Teachers have donated their time outside of school hours as well and it will not come out of taxpayers pockets.

As for the puppies, their four legged companionship is free, provided by the SPCA.

“We are just trying to go to school to do better in the world, so why not help them the best we can,” said Long.
 
Lame.

However, I will say, we keep crayons, markers, and colored pencils, plus coloring books, in the office for those days where you just need a flipping break. It does work...
 
My DS university did that during finals week... (puppies, unknown if coloring books, a few years back). He loves dogs/animals so said he went by..not exam stress related.. I remember seeing the pix he sent.

On one hand kids/young adults are told be self motivated, proactive, advocates for themselves ... be responsible for themselves...
and then they re told to color n play with puppies...exams are too stressful
Only in America ...:rolleyes1
 
“Stress is real and some students are looking for ways to manage that stress, so we’re trying to be creative and flexible in a way that helps to manage that stress so they can succeed,” said Scott Crow, a spokesman for ARC.

Hahaha!

Yes, stress is real, & we all managed to get through college & final exams w/o coloring books & puppies & safe spaces. And I love puppies!

Seriously, what kinds of kids are we raising that they can't deal w/ the real world as young adults?
 
My college offers this (and has for about 10 years now) and I can assure you most of us are capable of dealing with stress. Why is offering something to take the edge off such a bad thing any ways? It doesn't hurt anyone and no it doesn't make a graduating class of frail weak minded individuals. It is puppies and coloring books for goodness sake not giving out 100s automatically.

Heck where I work they give us beer and wine several times a month to help us "destress" how is that any different than a college bringing in puppies and coloring books.
 
I'm doing my part, my dd is a college student now. I have 2 more that will be. I promise I am raising them in a way where they will never need a "safe space" or a place to pet puppies and color because their exams are too stressful.
I am also making a list of schools that offer this kind of crap so they can avoid going to them LOL
 
My school does this as well. We don't get puppies though, just grown therapy dogs. I've never participated but I have walked by and even though I don't think it's necessary it does make me smile seeing the dogs getting lots of attention. They also set up massage chairs and a giant tv that you can play video games on. If anything I just see it all as a bigger distraction from studying, especially the video games, it's all very weird to me.
 
My college offers this (and has for about 10 years now) and I can ensure you most of us are capable of dealing with stress. Why is offering something to take the edge off such a bad thing any ways? It doesn't hurt anyone and no it doesn't make a graduating class of frail weak minded individuals. It is puppies and coloring books for goodness sake not giving out 100s automatically.

Heck where I work they give us beer and wine several times a month to help us "destress" how is that any different than a college bringing in puppies and coloring books.

Now that's what we did in college lol
 
When I was in college we got late night snacks in the cafeteria during finals week, including hot cocoa served by school administration. This was in the dark ages, so no puppies.

I say whatevs - we are all supposed to be mature grown ups yet here we are wasting our time on a message board. Get off and get back to your jobs you slacking snowflakes!

;p
 
When I went to college, several students every finals week would jump off the highest building on campus. If some coloring books and puppies can stop that from happening, bring them on! My DH works on a college campus and they have therapy dogs during finals week. It's good for the staff too!
 
We've done some college tours this year and some colleges mentioned dogs coming in during finals week. Said they do it each year so it doesn't sound like anything new.
 
The first college I went to did something similar, except they brought in therapy dogs... plus they had free massage and reflexology chairs set up, a Chinese medicine woman (odd, I know), and some crafts and food. Honestly I loved it; I was a thousand miles away from my own dog so having a few minutes with one was a blessing.
 
Yeah... to heck with puppies! Kids these days ought'a cope with stress the way WE did, back in the day.

Smoke breaks and booze! :laughing:

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Seriously, though, how are puppies and colouring books harmful in any way? I like to colour. Puppies are nice. Playing with them is a fun activity. I don't see why we need to sneer at young people for coming up with creative, fun ways to destress during exam time.

I mean, really, it could be SO much worse.

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I don't really see the issue. There are many students who have much more to deal with than simply school. Many...
... have part time if not full time jobs (mostly in retail, which during the holiday season is stressful enough)
... have anxiety or depression or both
... are far away from their families very close to the holidays and may not even be returning home for the holidays

I think this is a step towards schools realizing that they need to do something about the mental health of their students (not sure why this is considered a joke among those who are older). There's enough stigma around mental health already and it doesn't help when adults are telling younger adults that they shouldn't be stressed, or they don't need anything to help them through the rough patches. Suicide is the second leading cause in death among young people and isn't something that should be taken lightly - http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/campus-cri...es-rising-among-university-students-1.1463654 .

I don't think telling your kids that things like this are dumb or unnecessary is a great idea either. By doing that you're increasing the stigma around mental health for your child suggesting that they shouldn't need something like that because you raised them better than that or that it's only for weak students who can't handle school, and shouldn't be in university.
 
This makes me laugh every time this story comes up, which it does, almost every semester. The outrage about "raising a generation of *******" is so ridiculous, given the fact that even on this board, especially on this Disney board, all you have to do is look through random threads posted every day which scream of entitlement and competition on whose kid is best because they are amazingly popular with tons of friends, star athletes, take 50 AP classes a year, do league sports, participate in every extra-curricular on earth, grow food in their bedrooms to feed the homeless in their towns, make perfect scores on their SAT's, give all their christmas money to charities in impoverished countries, and so on, and so on, and so on. I mean, we're the generation that's raised these kids, so if you are upset, you should probably look to yourselves!

Actually, I think it's pretty cool that colleges are offering some interesting ways to help with stress. In '84, we would just all play quarters and drink PBR till we passed out. I'm kind of glad my kid might choose to play with a puppy as an alternative. Plus, most kids these days graduate with tens of thousands of debt, right out of the gate, so I would argue that they probably are, in fact, way more stressed than my generation who graduated in the 80's, with a good job almost guaranteed, and the ability to support themselves almost immediately. I say bring on the puppies and adult coloring books!
 
I agree. In my day we had "animal hour" in the dorms the week before finals. There were no dogs, but a lot of chaos!

I don't think students "need" the stress release, I think it's something fun to do that just shows a little kindness. If it happens to relieve stress for a few of them, that's a good thing too. Also, there are so many homeless animals that nurturing the idea of pet ownership in young adults is a good thing. They may decide to adopt or volunteer with a rescue organization. There's nothing wrong with encouraging young people to play with puppies.

My son's school has dogs in the library a few times a year. They also have ladies from the community that come in and make free waffles in the library the week before finals. I think it's nice community building that provides some touch of "real life" to the students. I'd go make waffles if I lived there. My son doesn't go, but I totally would have when I was in school.
 
I have no problem telling my kids this kind of stuff is ridiculous. This has nothing to do with true mental health therapy, this is the coddling of young adults, and that does not belong an a college campus. But hey, YMMV.
 

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