Stressed Out Children
Children and teens, as much as adults, need ways to deal with sources of stress.
Their world is full of new and often stressful situations over which they have little or no control.
Even children growing up in the most secure and stable families must cope with situations that we never imagined.
Children are taught to conform to societal expectations by learning to control urges and impulses that are deemed unacceptable. As they mature, they are expected to give up childish behavior to manage increasingly challenging tasks.
Furthermore, children must learn to cope with peers who can be cruel and generally difficult.
Don’t forget that children have very little or no say in most all crucial aspects in their lives. They have no control of where they will live, their parent’s marital relationship, how they fit in with peers or even who will teach them in school.
Finally, children today have much of their time scheduled with multiple extracurricular activities while being expected to maintain honor roll status. All of these things can be stressors. Even when a child’s difficulties are “normal” for children of his or her age, parents must be careful not to dismiss or minimize their importance.
