Each year, the topic of teenage stress garners increasing amounts of attention. A simple Google search for “teens and stress” yields articles with key phrases along the lines of “severe anxiety” and “growing epidemic.” The attention is not unwarranted, and Identifying the cause of your student’s stress is the first step to considering strategies to help.
There are many ways parents can help children manage the more challenging moments in their lives.
Here are a few suggestions that we use at the Green Ivy offices:
Emphasize the importance of sleep
Sleep is the foundation for everything in our lives, and it particularly affects mental health and stress management. According to the APA, adolescents should be getting 8–10 hours of sleep a night. We often see that sleep is the first thing to be sacrificed when students are juggling school, friendships, and extracurriculars. Talking to your teen about healthy sleep habits, working with him or her to establish a set sleep schedule, and following it as closely as possible (even on weekends) will make it easier to create lasting routines. We also advocate a “digital curfew” where all electronics are out of a bedroom at least an hour before bedtime.
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Build in time to focus on their strengths
Encourage your teen to spend a few minutes each day truly reflecting on their strengths and/or the qualities they feel most proud of. Then, brainstorm some activities where your teenager could put his or her interests to use as a way to build these natural talents. For example, if your teen is a tech whiz, they could volunteer as a tech tutor at a local library. Or if they are artistic, pursuing a community art class might be appealing. Focusing on the positive helps keep stressors in perspective while deepening the commitment to activities they already enjoy.
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Encourage physical activity
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of general movement. Physical activity encompasses more than participating in team athletics and doesn’t necessarily involve rigorous exercise. We often talk to students about “functional exercise,” which is more about moving and stress relief than getting a good workout. Activities that involve family and friends can be even more beneficial to mental health and can be anything, from taking the dog on a hike or biking in the neighborhood to taking a rock-climbing class.
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Help your teen develop cognitive empathy
When your teen is distressed, as a parent, a first impulse might be to try and solve their problems. However, adolescence is a critical period in which teens need to develop their socio-emotional problem-solving skills. Imparting lessons about empathy and perspective is particularly important to the cultivation of a skill known as cognitive empathy in teens. This ability to empathize can be thought of as an emotional pause button. Primarily, it helps kids identify if their stress is fleeting and helpful, like the stress of getting work turned in on time; or conversely, if the stress is more insidious and harmful like negative body image. Developing reflection and empathy not only encourages teens to see a situation from another person’s perspective but also gives them the chance to consider the fact that all situations, including stressful ones, are temporary.
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