Teenage Stress

That doesn't mean parents cause all stress. Teens are responsible people, although this is circumscribed by the possibilities available to them. And this is the key to a number of sources of stress. They get more freedom than they can handle in some areas, and less in others.

High stress will result if you send someone into a situation for which he/she is unprepared in today's society. The reaction that occurs is fundamentally the result of a continuing fight between "I must" and "I can't". The teenager often genuinely can't.

Its difficult to expect a fourteen year old to know the art of negotiating the gauntlet of different challenges thrown by the modern world without proper guidance. Not many fourteen-year-olds are ready to leave the nest. You aren't born with the ability to make a living in the modern world and usually haven't learned it by age 14.

Teenagers are, however, more mature than the children they have been. Teens have complex value systems, self-awareness, and a significant amount of knowledge of the world. They are capable of exercising independent judgment. The ability to solve problems and opportunities to test guesses could take a beating if that independence is stifled.

The result of these can be bad alternatives - independence or lack of independence can both result in teenage stress.

The former puts teenagers in the position of trying to figure out problems that they are not yet prepared to cope with. The latter makes it very hard for them to gain or expand their knowledge to solve them.

When they say "I'm old enough to make my own decisions," teenagers acknowledge this indirectly. Parents may respond in extreme fashions by either making all the teenager's decisions, or letting the teenager do whatever he or she wants.

Being able to ascertain which is the more appropriate strategy is an endeavor with which all parents are familiar. The teen can help, however, saving teenage stress for himself and his parents.

Teens are at a sometimes difficult halfway stage; they are no longer children, nor are they yet adults. But their situation can be improved by showing the first and copying the second. Reaching for responsibility is less stressful than having it thrust upon you.

Responsibility can lead to teenage stress if a person approaches it with fear or resentment, but with confidence and persistence, it can help a person build the needed skills to head of stress before it mounts. When teens are able to handle challenging responsibilities, they receive a boost in self-confidence and self-esteem.

The best way to deal with the teenage stress caused by parents is to tackle the challenges of school, home and other hurdles successfully. Sometimes, the best way to do that is to simply start over after a failure. Teenagers, like anyone else, can learn from failure and build mental toughness from their efforts.