Let Kids be Kids!

Time after time, I hear the stories of teenagers who are held to unrealistic expectations. The intense pressure that kids feel today is monumental and it comes at the most monumental time in their development. High school has become college and middle school has become high school. What happened? I don’t remember it being this way when I was a kid. Sure, we were made to do the work and also held to certain expectations depending on our family dynamic. It was just not to the extent that I am witnessing now. I’ll get kids in my office absolutely crumbling because they received a “B” on their last exam and they start predicting the future because of this one grade. They label themselves complete failures. The last time I checked, a “B” was nowhere close to indicating failure of any sort. Where could this thought process be coming from? School is important, but it is not the end all be all. This pressure put on teens leads to anxiety, depression, low sense of self worth, and sometimes suicide. We need to be careful and become more aware of this as school systems, as parents, and as people in general. Pressure can create diamonds, but that is in the most perfect of circumstances.