What kind of person are you? A glass half empty or a glass half full? As the end of May slowly approaches, so does all the bundle of things to accomplish and complete. This bundle includes looming finals, saying goodbye to friends, leaving the years experiences behind.
All the chatter in my house lately from my two teens is the glass half empty type. They just can’t seem to wrap their minds around anything other than bah humbug.
I am attributing this down in the dumps mantra to the ugly phenomenon that floods all of our lives and exists in every crevice of our mind and our body; stress. It can be attributed to anxiety, sleeplessness and a whole array of other issues. Stress can also be a motivating factor, but in this end of year rat race, not so much.
This past Sunday I was at a track meet for my 10-year-old. Many of the parents know that I also have two teenagers and they were curious about what teen life is like these days. The word I kept going back to, in order to describe their high school experience, was stress.
And it got me thinking, as most things usually do. What is an appropriate amount of stress for teachers and schools to put on teenagers? What is an OK amount of stress for teens to walk around feeling all the time? And most importantly, why is this amount of pressure they feel so all-encompassing? How is our world going to shape these teens into functioning adults?
I believe as parents we have many different types of stress that teenagers really can’t understand. But what I’m slowly coming to terms with is that our teenagers have stress that we parents can’t understand.
For instance, social media stress. I truly believe that kids on social media are having a hard time dealing with what they’re seeing their peers doing and it’s a constant competition of sorts. To be in an ever-changing state of flux is exhausting for them. Who wants to have to compete in every aspect of one’s life? Not me, and I don’t wish it on any teenager.
Here is how I’ve tried to coach my teens on how to get through the end of the year: If there is down time between stuff going on in class, use it wisely; manage your time appropriately at school and at home; don’t wait until the last minute to complete assignments and don’t cram for finals. Whether they take my advice or not, is up to them.
Life gives us lemons all the time, everyday. I would like to make delicious, refreshing lemonade with my lemons. I hope my teens get through these last few weeks of school unscathed and ready for summer. I’m looking forward to their lemonade as well; hopefully it won’t be too bitter. All they need is a little fun and sugar to throw into the mix.
Good luck on finals everyone, parents and teenagers alike.
Elizabeth Knobel lives in Windsor and is the mother of two teens who give her inspiration everyday. She can reached at [email protected].
