You know that freak out thing your teen does when you ask a simple question and they start yelling and waving their hands and ranting about how you always do this and why cant you do that because it’s so obvious they’re in the middle of …

That’s a stressed teen. Sure it’s called being a teen and you may excuse it as such, but this is also a teen with a lot on their plate. They don’t handle stress any better than you do when someone is asking for this and your husband wants sex and the taxes are due and you just realized there’s a leak in the roof. Calgon doesn’t actually take you away. You end up sitting there having to deal with all the stress. Well, so does your teen except your teen has limited coping skills and they lack the authority to blow off some of your requests like chores and socializing with the family.

The irritability that comes with a teen that is an overachiever or an underachiever that is stressed about not achieving is palpable and it makes everyone in the house on edge. Offer any way you can help like snacks or errands, offer a break on some chores when projects or important meets are around the corner and when things calm down point out or teach them better coping skills so they can get through those times a wee bit nicer.

Related posts:

1. Teaching Your Teen To Manage Stress
2. Should Your Teen Take A Pill For Stress?

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.

Related posts:

1. Got Teen Stress?
2. Should Your Teen Take A Pill For Stress?
3. Teaching Your Teen Tolerance