Stress is an all but inevitable experience for teenagers, and understandably so. They have a lot going on in their lives, from trying to balance school and extracurricular activities to navigating social pressures to understanding their changing bodies.
Navigating these challenges at a young age is incredibly difficult and will ultimately affect their quality of life.
However, teens must learn to manage their stress effectively so they can handle short-term stressors and deal with future difficulties as they enter adulthood.
Teens must eventually learn how to cope with stress on their own — but as a parent, you have to help them develop a resilient mindset and teach your child about stress management. By adopting the following strategies, you can help them de-stress and take care of their mental health.
Identify triggers for their stress
First and foremost, your teen needs to figure out what triggers their stress. When they know what kinds of situations cause them stress, they can work to avoid them. Make sure your teen knows what triggers are, as well as how to identify their own triggers. Help them learn what they feel and experience when they’re triggered so they’re better equipped to identify other triggers in the future.
Of course, your teen’s triggers won’t always be avoidable. This means you’ll need to support your teen in creating a plan to cope with stress when they encounter their triggers.
For example, let’s say tests or exams stress your teen out. Though they can’t avoid tests, they can develop a routine that helps them de-stress before a test to take the pressure off of it. Your teen can also come up with something similar to do after taking a test to help them decompress.
Develop fast-acting coping mechanisms
Being able to control and alleviate stress immediately can help your teen from getting into trouble because they react poorly under stress. It also saves them from unnecessary worry and negativity that will affect their mood and mental health.
Teach your teen fast-acting coping mechanisms for stress, such as deep breathing techniques. Finger breathing and box breathing are two stress relief breathing exercises that are simple — and, best of all, they can be done at any time.
Other fast-acting coping mechanisms for stress to experiment with include:
- Taking a walk
- Taking a nap
- Hugging someone
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Engaging in a short meditation
- Doing a 5-10-minute exercise routine
- Talking to a friend or trusted adult
- Repeating stress relief mantras
- Changing their perception of the situation
Practice these exercises together and note if they work. If they don’t, move on to others until you find the techniques that resonate with your teen.
Help your teen create a self-care routine
Help your teen take good care of themself so that they can approach stress healthily. Assist them in creating a self-care routine full of activities that relax your teen and make them happy.
For instance, maybe your teen loves beauty and skincare. You can introduce them to Korean skincare as a way to engage in self-care and nurture their passion for beauty and skincare. Korean skincare encourages you to nurture your mind and body to activate radiant skin.
It’s a detailed experience that will help your teen focus on caring for themself, even if it’s just for the 10 or 15 minutes this routine takes. Keep in mind this routine is customizable. So, your teen can add or take away things to cater to their unique needs. You can also do the routine with your teen so self-care and de-stressing become a family activity.
Not to worry if your teen isn’t into skincare or beauty. There are a whole host of self-care activities they can engage in to de-stress and take care of their holistic health. Here are a handful of ideas to get you started:
- Read
- Journal
- Cook or bake
- Play video games
- Take a relaxing bath
- Binge-watch their favorite shows
- Engage in a creative outlet like painting
- Ride bikes, hike, or enjoy the outdoors in other ways
Identify activities that help your teen relax and feel better. Then, incorporate these activities into their daily routine. This will ensure they have some time each day to decompress.
Pay attention to signs of struggling mental health
There may come a time when stress gets the best of your teen and it starts to affect their mental health.
Unacknowledged and untreated mental health conditions can hinder your teen’s ability to reach their full potential. It can also leave them feeling hopeless because mental illness symptoms can be debilitating without treatment.
Be on the lookout for mental health red flags like the following so that you can intervene as quickly as possible:
- Avoiding friends and activities they used to enjoy
- Struggling to complete routine personal hygiene tasks like showering
- Eating a lot less or a lot more than usual
- Sudden insomnia and/or not wanting to get out of bed
- Smoking, drinking, or doing drugs
Gently approach the conversation about what you’re noticing to get your teen to talk to you about what they’re going through. Listen more than you talk. Be sure not to judge them. Stay positive and come up with solutions together.
If you can’t get your teen to open up to you about their mental struggles and challenges with stress, see if a therapist can help.
Conclusion
Parenting a teenager can sometimes be a rollercoaster you don’t want to be on, especially when your teen is dealing with a lot of stress. Help them navigate stress healthily using the tips above to give you both peace of mind and a better life.
Charlie Fletcher is a freelance writer from the lovely “city of trees”- Boise, Idaho. Her love of writing pairs with her passion for social activism and search for the truth. You can find more of her writing on her Contently.
