Ask most parents, “What do you want for your child?” and you’ll hear things like happiness, success, health, confidence, a good life. We want the BEST for our children, but sometimes the intensity of our desires for their lives causes us to set expectations too high.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some children/tweens/teens that thrive on full schedules and tackling every expectation thrown at them. But, take a step back, is the stress of your teen’s potential success causing you to panic and them to falter?
This need to have our children/tweens/teens “keeping up” is causing them to walk the line of stress, fatigue and hopelessness. Teens start asking the question of “what do I have to do to keep up with classmates” as opposed to figuring out the essence of adolescence, which is “who am I,” “what do I value,” “what drives me,” and “what is meaningful to me”.
This lack of identity, stress and relentless drive to perform at unrealistic levels is causing teens to show signs of depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, concentration issues, lack of motivation, entitlement, and poor judgment. They may also be self-medicating.
While counseling helps you process and overcome challenges, it can also create lasting change by helping your teen develop autonomy, resilience, self-reliance and responsibility for their choices.
If you are ready to help your teen manage the constant stress of being a teenager, so they can have the happy and successful life that they want, call for a free consultation.