Friday, July 16, 2010

Help your Teens manage stress

Adults are not the only one who experience stress, kids too. My eldest daughter is now a freshman in high school. Her school starts at six o'clock in the morning, so she has to wake up by 4:00 am, then the class ends at three in the afternoon. Whenever she comes home she'll just eat snack then start her homework like research for their science investigatory project, Math problems, prepare visual aids for their reporting and even drawings for their story telling. Then review lesson for the next day. She goes to bed by 10 pm. School is really demanding, she's enrolled in a Science Oriented Class, a special curriculum of DepED for public schools.

As a Mom I'm really worried that it might affect her health. I always plan activities for our weekends so she can relaxed. Like going to the mall, at the park, playing badminton, or jogging. Also during weekends I allow her to play online or chat with her friends in Facebook, but it should be after doing her homework for Monday.


I noticed that she has a high level tolerance for stress, she never complains. Always her comfort zone is her anime drawings. She feels good whenever she's with her Manga book.

For more information I read books and searched online about fighting stress at school. I learned
some tips like:
-Listen to your child. Ask what’s wrong let the child express his/her feelings.
-Commend your child for doing a great job on his/her exams or class reporting.

-Support involvement in sports and other prosocial activities

-Keep a positive atmosphere at home.
-Tell your child you will always be there.
-Teach the child to eat healthy food.

I always prepare foods with high nutritional value. Aside from drinking 2 glasses of milk everyday I serve them meals with fruits and vegetables.