If you don’t have children you can’t relate to teenagers who come home from school wound up in anxiety and stress.
It seems so ridiculous (to many adults anyway) when you consider the things that push our children to the brink of paranoia these days.
For example, eating a healthy lunch at school is frowned upon by many students, resulting in your child no longer wanting to eat a proper lunch for fear of being teased or labeled a nerd. Yes, kids stress about these things.
And if girls are not wearing tight apparel they think they’re not worthy of attention because they don’t conform. Another stressor.
How embarrassing is it when you can’t find a willing partner for a class activity so you have to pair up with the teacher (amidst snickering and “you’re so weird” looks)? Apparently devastating.
Kids can be cruel, like a leg-hold trap, and with all the pressures of school work the burden of stress on our kids today is almost unbearable for some.
It has reached a point where our schools have placed a lot of emphasis on dealing with this social/emotional anxiety that stops learning in its tracks.
In fact, dealing with this anxiety is like a whole new curriculum that teachers have to incorporate into their classrooms.
But it’s very encouraging to see schools trying to tackle this issue head on.
For example, the “Zen Den” at Southern Okanagan Secondary School is a great idea that should be incorporated in every school. Tuc-el-Nuit has something similar.
These rooms are places where students can go to calm themselves and de-stress, a crucial requirement for many whose brains shut down.
We adults never had calm rooms in school because stress wasn’t considered a problem among pupils. We were expected to “suck it up” and deal with it in our own way.
But times have changed and our children’s coping skills are pushed to the max while they try to deal with their identity crisis.
As parents, we’re at a loss sometimes as to the solution. We can talk until the cows come home but some children’s stress is so ingrained that they can’t see the solution (or are too scared to try). This in turn stresses the parents who need their own “Zen Den” to recover.
Suggestion: Spend an entire weekend with your kids watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. Laughter is truly the best medicine.
Kudos to teachers and school counsellors for doing their best to tackle this growing problem.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
