I don’t know you but I always feel that September is this crazy month of the year filled with lots of appointments, and duties, for us and for our children. It’s only been a few weeks and we have already forgotten that Summer was just a month ago! With back to school season in session, let’s talk about children and social and academic pressure.
Back to School Stress
Back to school season can be very stressful for parents but also for our children. New classes, new friends, new teachers, and new lessons to learn, often times in a new school! Every year, children and teens need to adapt themselves to a new and different environment. And some of them can feel overwhelmed very quickly. Among the different difficulties they have to face, social and academic pressure can be a tough one.
Children and Social and Academic Pressure
I can easily guess that you know at least one child or teen who struggles at school. They will show their difficulties with different behaviors, depending on their personalities. It can be a lack of focus and concentration, or they can express a dislike for a specific subject. Or worse, when the pressure gets too high, they will feel overwhelmed showing symptoms of depression or excessive activity. ADHD symptoms can arise too.
Do you know that statistics indicate that 6.4 million American children from 4 to 17 years old have been diagnosed with ADHD (rightfully or not)? That’s a 42% of increase over the past 8 years. Our own research shows that among children and teens who came to visit us at InnerOptimal, 32% of them showed a lack of focus and 31% expressed a lack of concentration in various activities.
Social pressure from friends, teachers, or family can put a lot of stress on children and teens, who struggle to get better results in their academic studies or athletic performances. Children and teens can face hard times as they try to figure out what they like, and what they want to do as they grow up. A peaceful and restful environment can become a necessity for them and symptoms should be handled with care.
Tips for Reducing Social And Academic Stress
This month, we would like to share with you a few tips to help your children find easy ways to release the pressure from school.
A great way to begin is with abdominal breathing. It can be easily done before going to bed or in the morning. By teaching this habit to children in a peaceful environment, they will be able to use this technique to calm themselves when facing uncomfortable or stressful situations.
A bedroom without a TV set or any other electronic devices will reduce the temptation to watch a screen just before going to sleep. The quality of sleep will be greater if children and teens can have at least an hour prior to bedtime without watching a digital screen. Thus, they will feel fully rested and ready for the following day!
Sharing family dinners together, or a relaxing family walk in the evening to talk about the day’s activities and concerns, can strengthen relationships, and give everyone the opportunity to relax and feel calmer at the end of the day.
Real Life Results
Anna* found herself struggling with mathematics for quite some time. Not knowing how to cope with her problem, stress and anxiety had become part of her daily routine. Pressure from school, from her parents and her own pressure did not help her to find a solution and only magnified her anxiety. She didn’t like going to school and was showing a lack of focus and concentration. She had troubles only with mathematics but she wasn’t feeling confident in any of her other subjects.
That’s when she started the InnerOptimal program. During the training, she was able to unlock her full potential by mainly reducing her stress and anxiety. She had always thought she wasn’t good at mathematics so her mind didn’t allow her to believe she could thrive in that area. By the end of her training, she was fully enjoying mathematics, was able to help others who were struggling, and had excellent results. She was eventually happy to go to school, had better focus and was enjoying the full potential of her memory too.
Contact Us
If you know somebody with children and social and academic pressure, please have them contact us. Ask them to mention our newsletter and we will be happy to offer a special discount. We also encourage whole families living away from Encinitas to call us for our special out of area programs.
We wish you a wonderful month of October!
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Amelie for InnerOptimal
Your naturopathic brain training center
