Recognizing and Dealing With Teen Stress

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

29 Oct 2009 11:01 PM

They may look like adults. They may even exhibit adult behavior. Teenagers, however, cannot handle adult pressures. They are still children in many ways.

My daughter is performing at a teen stress event this weekend and it got me thinking about teens and stress.

• There is the issue of parental pressures.
• They had to deal with peer pressure.
• There is pressure put on them by boyfriends and girlfriends that are of a sexual nature.
• There is also the issue of scheduling overload.

For my kids, the biggest pressures comes from staying on their homeschool academic schedule as well as keeping up with extra curricular activities. I have my kids in a rigorous fine arts program which includes shows and competitions. One such show is coming up in 3 weeks and next week they will be at Bob Jones University for performing and fine arts competitions. Needless to say, the stress level in my house and among my kids' friends is very high.

In my experience teens exhibit stress by getting sick. They don't sleep. They don't eat well. They wake up with large zits, cold sores, sore throats, and become susceptible to full fledged flu. This makes my first line of defense nutrition and health management.

Besides making sure they eat well, and get enough sleep, I also work to lessen stress in one area when they are under stress in another area. For example, I am letting them do bare minimum in their academics this week and they gear up for a week full of performances. When the performances are over, they can get back on track with their work.

Of course every parent can't do that because not everyone homeschools, but you can still find ways to give them a break when they are obviously stressed. Perhaps you can let them out of their chores for a week. Perhaps you can make their favorite meals and do little things to make them happy. Perhaps you can just let them know that you understand. Whatever you do, don't add to their stress by taking on new pressures.

~If you liked this you should also read my other posts at the home blog, the homeschooling blog, the parents blog, and the frugal blog. You can read my recent posts here.

Yoga for Teens

When Pressure Comes

Four Tips for Settling a Nervous Stomach

Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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D_A (5) 09 Nov 2009 06:54 PM

I'm really happy with how this article approaches teen stress. I have heard so many times from adults about how "teens are so young, they have nothing to worry about because they don't pay the bills, they're totally careless". I am an AP student with dance, piano, and club extracirriculars, which can get pretty stressful. Next year I'll have to start filling out college applications. I think that instead of parents just loading their kids with activities, it is actually better to take up a few and get really good at them. (however, im really into all of the activities i'm involved in, so i guess it's all about time management.)

I am a teen writer for a blog called radical parenting. Basically, there are parenting articles written from the teenager's perspective. For anyone else reading this blog, here is another site that gives additional tips on handling teen stress: http://www.radicalparenting.com/2008/04/05/how-parents-can-handle-school-burn-out-advice-column/.

Andrea Hermitt (5507) 11 Nov 2009 03:34 PM

Thanks for the compliment D_A