Teaching Your Teen To Manage Stress
Your teen is under more stress in high school than ever before. Of course there are all types of stress, but if your teen has taken on sports, academic challenges, a job, volunteer activities, advanced courses and family duties, not to mention a significant other, they might forget that the most important thing is not always getting everything done.
Say that again? What, not get everything done?
Believe it or not sometimes it is important for your teen to learn how to set limits on what they can accomplish in a day. Of course having so much to do teaches organizational skills, but if your teen pushes themselves to the absolute limit, they may get things done but at great cost. Poor health, increased body weight and fatigue are a few things that result from being stressed. Your teen can’t just learn to be organized so they get everything done; they need to learn how to do this in a way that is sustainable over time. A way they can be productive in the future when you’re not there to bring them snacks or wake them up to go to bed when they fall asleep in their book.
To survive stressful workloads, your teen must learn how to take care of themselves:
1. Food
Food is yummy and it’s energy. Good food is better energy. Healthy snacking is ideal during stressful times. This is better for the body and brain than the junk food your teen usually falls back on.
2. Sleep
Disrupting sleep schedules with all-nighters and next day zombie functioning sabotages all of the hard work they have done and limits their ability as they try and do their best in a sleep deprived state. Your teen needs to know they will work very hard until a given time and then they must go to bed.
3. Exercise
Exercise is a well known stress reliever and keeps the brain sharp for efficient learning when they do sit and study. It also helps maintain weight and improve energy.
4. Breaks
Little enters the brain after 2 hours of sitting with an activity. So your teen should take a break and do something fun like a video game, knitting or watching a fun sit-com.
5. Moments
When there is so much to do your teen can under estimate how much they are doing. Taking the time to appreciate these moments is important so they realize the results of their hard work. Help them do this by taking them out for a special treat or leaving a “pride note” where you mention: how proud you are, that you realize how hard they are working, and you can appreciate how much they have accomplished.
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