There is a good deal of stress in everyone's lives these days and that includes children and teenagers. Children and teenagers come under stress from many sources but especially from warring parents and exams. However, children and teenagers are not as well prepared to cope with stress as adults should be.
The death of a parent and bullying at school are also reasons for stress in children and teenagers. The death of a parent can require counseling, bullying calls for adult help, more often than not from school staff. These four cases of stress in children and teenagers can lead to mental health issues like depression, ADHD and aggression.
Other causes of milder stress, which can however be the straw that broke the camel's back, are as follows.
Transferring to a new school, new town or joining a new club, like cub scouts is stressful to a lot of kids. They will not have a lot, if any, friends there and will be unsure of the local customs, which can be nerve wracking. Being on edge like this is very stressful.
Learning how to cope with deadlines is not easy for a lot of young people. Nor is working alone to complete a project. Both of these skills are taught through homework and most children have problems with homework. They hate it. This also causes stress to build up, particularly if the child does not know how to do the homework and there is no one to lend a hand. Perhaps the child does not want to ask or perhaps the parents are incapable of assisting.
Connected with school, if a parent is too assertive about achieving high grades, it can have stressful effects that are opposite to what was intended. Parents have to see the fine line between encouraging and pushing their children to do well in school.
Low self esteem due to a more intelligent or more praised sibling is also the cause of stress. Parents who have a favourite and make this obvious run a serious risk of hurting their other children. Never ever choose a favourite (my 'number one son' or 'my little princess') and if you can not help yourself, then never let it show.
The news can disturb some children, especially gory details like terrorist bombings and natural disasters. These are felt much more deeply of course if they happen locally. Similar to this is if a close family member suffers a terminal illness or even a serious accident like a car accident and the loss of a limb. They may undergo short term stress if they have an illness like mumps or measles or break an arm or a leg as well.
Children quickly pick up on issues between their parents and also on financial problems in the home. Try to keep these things to yourself and do not argue often in front of the children.
You can help in the home by making sure that your children have love and understanding and by not being too demanding. They are only children, but they sometimes have to put up with adult sized stress too. Try to help them not make too big an issue of problems.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with financial stress. If you are suffering from any kind of stress, please go over to our website now at Stress and Heart Disease.
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