Parent Alert March 2022

Watch for these signs of severe stress:

1. Lack of sleep: Many experts say that most teens need at least 9 hours of sleep a night. If your youth is consistently staying up late or getting up early for schoolwork, they may be under too much pressure.

2. Significant change in mood: While it is normal for a teen to experience mood swings, significant and prolonged mood changes—for example, constant irritability in a typically upbeat individual—may indicate severe stress.

3. No social life or hobbies: Part of the excitement of being a teenager is enjoying friends and developing interests. If a youth is too busy to enjoy these pursuits, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate their schedule.

4. Significant decrease in grades: A youth who is used to doing well in school but starts to see their grades decrease may double down and try to work even harder. But if stress is the culprit, this will only make the issue worse in the end.

5. Developing mental and/or physical health issues: You might notice your teen getting sick more often than normal or struggling with chronic fatigue, aches and pains, or mental health struggles like depression, anxiety, or other issues. These are often warning signs of too much stress in their life.

2. Consider implementing evening quiet hours if possible: Ask your teen what times in the evening they like to do homework, and see if you can work out some house-wide quiet hours on certain nights of the week, especially if they have a test or large project coming up. If you have young children, you could take them to the park, on a walk, or to a toy store; or you could let them watch movies on a laptop with earbuds.