Signs of Excessive Stress or Anxiety in Kids
In today's hectic, high-pressure world, it can be easy for a child or teen to become overwhelmed. Read on for some of the signs of excessive stress or anxiety in kids.
When a child or teen comes home and talks about hating school, being mad at a friend, or being stupid, take note. There's a good chance that what he is trying to say is that he is stressed or overwhelmed.
Pressures Exist Everywhere
Stress is increasingly common among teenagers. They are faced with a deluge of expectations, pressures, and choices every day of their lives. Gangs are prevalent, even in smaller communities. Drugs of all kinds are available pretty much everywhere, and many of their peers may be experimenting. Even pre-adolescents are frequently pressured to experiment with sexuality and might feel like “a loser” if they aren't “doing it” like kids on TV and in the movies. At school and in the community, they often witness or are victims of bullying, harassment, and violence.
Positive Stress Versus Negative Stress
Some stress is necessary in life. It motivates kids and teens to gear up for that big exam or play hard in the next game. This kind of stress can be viewed as motivation – holding a high bar for oneself to be productive, successful, or perform in a desired way.
Signs of Negative Stress
Negative stress, however, causes excessive worry, anxiety, and even physical illness. Parents or guardians can help their kids by watching for emotional or behavioral cues that their child is overly stressed. Some signs include:
- Changes in behavior, like excessive moodiness or hostility toward other family members
- Complaining more than usual about school, sports, friends, or some other aspect of their lives
- Emotional outbursts – crying, yelling, destroying things
- Frequent stomach aches or headaches that are not due to an underlying physical condition
- Withdrawing from activities that they used to enjoy
- Expressing self-hatred or making disparaging comments about themselves (“I'm so ugly!” or “Everybody hates me!”)
- Sleeping too much, or having a difficult time sleeping
- Avoiding parents or guardians more than usual; isolating
- Excessive eating, or a drop in appetite
- Being unusually fearful
- More frequent crying than is typical for the child
- Ignoring or abandoning long-time friends
These behaviors might not be sure signs of excessive stress in a child's life, but parents or guardians should pay attention if they notice changes like these. Create a safe environment that invites the child to talk, and ask unobtrusive questions like, “You doing okay?” or “I've noticed some changes in you; what's up?”
If the behaviors continue, seek professional help from a school counselor or licensed mental health or family therapist.
We hope you enjoyed Simply Amazing Living's “Signs of Excessive Stress or Anxiety in Kids” post.
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26 Comments.
Unlike us adults who can communicate how we are feeling (even THAT can be tough to do something), kids have a tough time expressing if they are stressed or anxious. That’s a great list of things to watch that can be signs of their stress or anxiety. Helpful to deal with their feelings accordingly instead of just considering them as “difficult” children.
Great post. It is very important for parents to identify these symptoms and help their children. It is important to let them be children and enjoy their life not everything is a competition.
It’s always and very important to the signs of anxiety as a parent. Kids always have that. Your points about anxiety is very true. Thanks for such an educative post.
stress is so hard on little ones. great tips.
With all of whats happening in the world right now, dealing with stress is so difficult!
Yes, so true.
i am no parent but i remember as a teacher and working with children how important it was to try to gauge their emotional well-being. thanks for addressing this difficult topic.
You are welcome! Thank you for taking the time to read and to comment!
Yyyyeeeaaahhhhh…. Modiness is the biggest teller of “trouble”. Thing is, it has to be approached very calmly.
Yes, it is.
This is a great post! I dont want my kids to experience stress or anxiety thats why i do all my best for them.
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by.
I have seen many of these signs in kids that I worked with as well as my own. It is critically important to catch it before it gets bad.
Yes, the earlier detection, the better.
Excessive stress is not hygiene, can expose one to illnesses easily because the immune system gets weakened in the process. I find this article very educational
Thank you for taking the time to read my article!
It’s important to ask kids how they feel. Also, it’s necessary to always check on them. Encourage them to express their feelings!
So true!
Kids of new generation get easily stressed and get anxiety. We adults who grew up with less access to multimedia and no social media back then are tougher and just chuckled on stress. Parents have a great role on how kids can cope with stress, the way their grandparents do.
I agree. We all have to work together to protect our young ones.
Oh that was good to know because I have two kids and I want to make sure that if they do feel depressed I can do all that I can for them.
You are welcome!
Very sensitive topic but important for parents. Kids may face silent stress and unknowingly it may lead them to a dark world. Its good you wrote about it, we parents need to be aware and give proper attention.
I completely agree. Thank you.
This article sucked me in! Very informative, and I never thought about how there are different types of stress. Most of us are having these symptoms due to our circumstances changing
Thank you for stopping by!